


The Vanguard: Rise of the Alpha Clan

by djmiddleton4



Series: The Vanguard [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel 616
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 54,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25477891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djmiddleton4/pseuds/djmiddleton4
Summary: A year after their very first battle with Christopher Chambers, the Vanguard is celebrating their success as a new, young, and successful team superhero team in the Marvel universe. Led by former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and former Avenger Stealth (Dominic Middleton), he is joined by scientist Diamond (Imani Kelly), former Air Force member SkyBlaze (Jeffrey Morris), and former private detective Kinetic (Darrell Robinson). But their newfound success comes with difficult challenges. A new supervillain team named the Alpha Clan is on the rise as they plan to take out various superheroes and the Vanguard is first on their list. After Chambers's failed attempt with the Vanguard, the Alpha Clan realizes that they have to take matters into their own hands. The new supervillain team is now ready to put this new team of heroes on edge as they give them their first true test as a legit superhero team.
Series: The Vanguard [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/947646





	1. Chapter 1

It was a cold and cloudy early afternoon over the Atlantic Ocean. There was a black jet flying in the sky heading in the south direction of the Atlantic Ocean. The jet happens to be the Vanguard’s jet. The team has been flying for countless hours as they were headed to Antarctica for a mission. In the jet, all the members were preparing for their mission that they have been long planning for. Wearing their leather black suits from last time, they added a little detail to their suits by adding the letter ‘V’ on their belts as their insignia. Imani Kelly (Diamond) is looking over blueprints for a project she was working on. Jeffrey Morris (SkyBlaze) is piloting the jet as he is seen looking over a digital map to make sure he is heading the right direction. Darrell Robinson (Kinetic) is in the corner meditating to help calm his nerves and he’s also sporting a new look as he grew a beard over time. Dominic Middleton (Stealth) is looking out the window as he patiently waits to arrive to their destination. “Two hours until we arrive to our destination.” Jeffrey said as he was piloting the jet. “I just wanna know why this group would have a base down in Antarctica out of all the other places.” Darrell said while he is getting up from the corner. “Easy,” Imani said. “Cause they think people won’t find them cause not everybody thinks of places like that.” “Yeah especially with that type of group,” Dominic said as he was drinking a bottle of water. “We’ve been chasing Christopher’s henchmen for about a year now and this is the best lead we got on ‘em. Just don’t know what they’re planning.” “They’re probably finishing out what Chris started.” Darrell said. “Hence why they broke out of prison and trying to finish what they started.” Imani said. “Well, I will say this about them,” Jeffrey said. “They trying to be like another HYDRA cause of what Christopher was but it ain’t gonna happen cause of Chris not being with them. He was the leader and brains of that group. Without him, they’re just creating more and more countless trouble.” “Of course,” Dominic said. “That’s just more trouble on our hands.”

A couple of hours later, they arrived in the snowy, freezing, and windy environment of Antarctica. All of them were looking around to find the henchmen’s base. “CT, you got anything?” Jeffrey asked. “Yes,” CT said. “Their base is located 2 miles west of the South Pole in West Antarctica. They also have two small stations as well within proximity. It will take you guys about 20 minutes to get there. I suggest you should land away from their base, so you guys won’t be detected. Also, there are research stations near the base. And it seems that the researchers have no clue about the bases so I should suggest that you should evacuate those researchers before things get out of hand.” “Thanks, CT.” Dominic said. “You’re welcome.” CT said. “Then let’s head out there.” Jeffrey said. Jeffrey pressed a button on the control pad of the jet and as he did, the turbo engines in the jet switched on as they accelerated to their destination.

As they arrived at the South Pole, Dominic saw the base and the two other smaller bases from outside the window. “I found the bases y’all.” he said. Imani looked out the window and saw the bases as well too as she was also trying to find a place to land their jet. “Let’s land the jet about a mile or two away that direction.” she said as she pointed to a specific place. “Prepare for landing.” Jeffrey said. He did as Imani said and he landed the jet about a couple miles away from the bases. As their jet door opened, Imani was the first one to walk out. As the freezing artic winds hit her, she immediately turned into her diamond form to keep herself warm. Jeffrey was the next one to walk out as he heated up his body to the point where steam was coming out of his suit. Next to come out the jet was Darrell as he put on a black leather jacket and a black beanie. Last was Dominic as he came out putting on a black trench coat that was similar to his uncle’s trench coat that he usually wears. He also created a hat by using his powers to keep his head warm. Dominic looked at Jeffrey and Imani and he said, “I hope y’all are warm.” They smiled back at their leader and Imani said, “Warmer than y’all two.” They all got in a circle and stood with their backs facing one another. Darrell used his telepathic powers to look for the researchers and he said, “I got 17 researchers nearby. Not that many cause I expected more. They’re north of us.” “Alright then,” Dominic said. “Darrell, your job is going to be to evacuate them and to get them somewhere safe.” “What about the bases?” Jeffrey said. “That’s where we come in,” Dominic said. “The two smaller bases are where they make most of their weapons and armor.” “So, I’m guessing they’re using the two small bases as fronts while the main base is just used for the big stuff I think.” Jeffrey said. “Probably so.” Imani said. “Fine, then I’ll take the base located on the east side.” Jeffrey said. “I’ll take the main base down south.” Imani said. “Actually, I need to take the main base.” Dominic said. “And why you say that?” Imani said as she turned around looking at Dominic. “That base is the most heavily guarded. I saw as we were getting ready to land. Guards posted up on every corner. Heavily armed as well. If they see you, they won’t stop at nothing to get you. While I can just easily sneak in there and can try to shut it down from there. If I can’t shut it down, I’ll call on you and we can switch bodies telepathically.” “Switch bodies,” Imani asked. “You can do that?” “Yeah,” Dominic responded. “It’s one of my many telepathic tricks.” “Well, I guess I’ll take the other base on the west side then.” Imani said. As she said that, everybody put their comm links in their ears. “Alright then, let’s go.” Dominic said. They turned around and they bumped into each other. They murmured to each other and started pointing in the direction they were supposed to be going. They all walked off and went on to their respective missions.


	2. Chapter 2

As Dominic walked away, he turned invisible and started flying towards the base. He got to the base and looked around to see where the best place to enter was. He landed on the ground quietly so the guards on the outside won’t hear him. The guards were wearing heavy armor and had guns in their hands and their pockets walking around the main base to protect it at all costs. As he started walking, he turned around and realized that his footprints were leaving marks. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Can’t be leaving footprints of myself.” He created a force disc under his feet and gently lifted himself a couple of inches off the ground. He floated to the west side of the building and used his telepathic powers to knock out all the guards on the west side of the building. “I know those guards will be up in a few minutes, so I need to make this quick. Using my telepathy while being invisible definitely does the weaken it. And vice versa. That’s the only thing I hate about these powers.” He swiftly flew around the outside of the building knocking out all the guards one by one using his telepathic powers. He gave one more look around and made sure no guard was left standing around. He then put his hand on a door and turned part of the door invisible to make sure it was clear to go in. He saw a couple of guards inside and used his telepathic powers to knock those two guards out. “Ok, they’re out.” he whispered to himself. He looked at the door and saw that the door was a keycard entry. Dominic glanced back and saw one of the guards’ keycard on the ground as he telekinetically picked the card up and scanned it on the scanner. The scanner lit up green and he opened the door letting himself in. “I’m in.” he said to himself.

Jeffrey, who still had steam coming out of his body, walked upon the base he was going to infiltrate. The base wasn’t as heavily guarded as the one Dominic was at as Jeffrey only saw two guards standing at the front. “Hey Stealth,” he said over his communicator. “I came upon their base. What should I do now?” “Take out the henchmen,” Dominic responded. “Then destroy their weapons. If we do that, maybe the henchmen won’t have to call for backup. Same goes for Diamond.” “Roger that.” Jeffrey said. “On it.” Imani said. Jeffrey turned into his fiery form and threw a fireball at the guards standing at the front of the base. The guards started firing their guns at Jeffrey and Jeffrey started flying around in the air as he dodged them. He flew towards them and as he did that, he grabbed them and threw them inside the building. Jeffrey walked inside the building and the guards that were inside the building started firing their guns and energy blasters at them. Jeffrey put up a fire shield to protect himself from the attacks. As they stopped attacking, Jeffrey put down his fire shield and said, “My turn.”

Imani, at the other small base, was seen taking down henchmen one by one as she pummeled some of them down to the ground and some she threw out of the base. As she got done attacking the henchmen, she walked around the base to look for the weapons she was trying to destroy. “I know this base is small but I ain’t think it would be difficult to find the weapons.” Few minutes later, she searched all over the base searching for the weapons and still found nothing. “The weapons have got to be here somewhere.” she said to herself. She raised one eyebrow and thought of something. She balled up her fists and repeatedly smashed her fists to the ground until the floor broke in pieces. The floor then collapsed and sent Imani crashing down below to an empty hallway. As she landed, she looked around to figure out which way she wanted to go. “This gotta be it.” she said to herself. “SkyBlaze to Diamond, come in.” Jeffrey said over the comms. “What’s up?” Imani asked. “I can’t find the weapons they’re making. Have you found anything?” “It’s probably below you. I’m underground now looking for it now cause I couldn’t find it in the actual base. So you probably gotta fire your way below.” “Thanks.” Jeffrey said. She walked in one direction and she started hearing machine like sounds. As she heard the sounds, she starts walking faster in that direction until she saw two guards standing in front of a door. She quickly walked away from the guards so she won’t be seen. She looked over to see if the guards weren’t looking her way and as the guards turned around, Imani quietly ran up behind them and grabbed them by their collars and headbutted them, knocking them out. She grabbed one of their keycards and quietly opened the door and saw a giant room where the henchmen were making all of their weapons. “Oh my God.” she whispered to herself. A henchman saw her at the door and immediately got out his gun. “FREEZE!” he screamed. Dozens of other henchmen saw and followed along suit by getting out their guns and pointing it at Imani. She looked around and said, “Well shit.”  
Darrell was flying around searching for the researchers. As he was flying, he looked down and saw a couple of research bases believing that the researchers would be in there. He flew down to the ground and he noticed something was off. “Something’s not right,” he said to himself. “I sense fear in some of the researchers’ mind.” He started looking around and saw an armored vehicle and said, “Oh no.” Darrell ran inside and saw the henchmen, dressed in their robotic suits from their last battle, kidnapping the researchers. “Hey!” Darrell shouted. One of the henchmen turned around and saw Darrell. The henchmen fired his energy blasts at him and Darrell blocked them by putting up a telekinetic shield. “Get the researchers out of here!” one of the henchmen yelled out. The other henchmen threw the researchers in the armored vehicles they had and drove off. The henchman attacking Darrell stopped firing his gun and Darrell telekinetically threw a desk at him. The henchman dodged the desk and started back firing his gun at Darrell. Darrell ran and took cover and telekinetically broke off his gun. The henchman then activated another function on his robotic suit as Darrell got up from his cover and running towards him. As he got closer, the henchman then punched Darrell through a window with him crashing on the freezing snow. Darrell got up from the ground and saw the henchman flying away. “Guys,” he said over his communicator. “They got the researchers. They’re probably taking them back to the main base. Can anybody rendezvous back with me at the main base other than Stealth.” “Actually, I’m kinda busy at the moment.” Imani said grunting as she was attacking other henchmen. “Same here.” Jeffrey said as he sounded like he was out of breath. “Kinetic, I ain’t even made it to the computer yet to shut this operation down so you on your own.” Dominic said. “Damn.” Darrell said. He flew off after the henchmen who kidnapped the researchers. He looked around as he was flying in the sky looking around for the them. He saw three vehicles lined up driving in the same direction until they broke off and went their separate ways. “Shoot.” Darrell said. He flew to one vehicle and telekinetically stopped it in its tracks. Guns started coming out the vehicle and started firing at Darrell. As Darrell had one hand stopping the vehicle in its tracks, he held up his other hand to block the gunfire. He sensed that the some of the researchers were in the vehicle and told them telepathically, “Just stay calm. I’m gonna get you guys out of here.” Darrell telekinetically took off two of the tires and threw them at the guns to stop them from firing. About five henchmen started getting out of the vehicle and attacked Darrell. Darrell, still with his shield up, started breaking off the vehicle parts and attacked the henchmen. Some of the henchmen took effect to it but there were three henchmen left standing. He then telekinetically lifted one henchman and slammed them in the other two disabling their robotic suits and knocking them out. After that, he walked up to the back of the vehicle and opened the back door to free the researchers. “Thank you!” one of the researchers said. “No problem.” Darrell said. “Are you gonna get others?” another researcher asked. “Of course,” Darrell responded. “But first we need to get you guys somewhere safe. Now I’m gonna need everybody to hold hands.” The researchers looked at each other confused and did what Darrell told them to do. Darrell got in the middle of them and he telekinetically got them off the ground and flew them to a safe place.

Dominic, who was invisible, was still searching around for the main computer until he came upon a room with a henchman sitting inside of it controlling the main computer. The room inside not only had the main computer but also cameras that showed the main base and the two other bases. Dominic walked inside of the room and said, “Why hello there.” The henchman jumped up out of his seat and asked, “Who said that?” The henchman got out his gun and started pointing it around. “Come out wherever you are man!” the henchman shouted. Still invisible, Dominic said, “Look behind you and find out.” As the henchman turned around, Dominic came out of his invisibility and winked at him. Before the henchman could attack him, Dominic grabbed his head and telepathically knocked him out. He sat in front of the main computer and said, “Let’s see if I still got these hacker skills in me.” He started typing on the computer as he was trying to shut the whole operation down. After a few minutes, he had little progress but was still getting frustrated. “God, this is harder than I thought.” he said to himself. A couple seconds later, he saw that he couldn’t get any further as the computer blocked him out. “Damn.” he said to himself. An alarm started blaring out throughout the whole base as the lights inside the room started blinking red. He looked on the camera screens and saw that henchman were on their way to Jeffrey’s and Imani’s location. “Diamond and SkyBlaze,” he said over his comm. “We got henchmen heading your way.” “More already,” Jeffrey asked. “Bring it on. I’ll burn this whole place down if I have to.” “Diamond, I’m gonna need you to get to a safe place. I need your help.” “Can you give me a few seconds?” Imani asked as she was attacking henchmen. 

Imani was battling countless waves of henchmen as more henchmen kept coming. She jumped in the air and did a ground slam sending the henchmen flying in the air. While the henchmen were still airborne, she backflipped a few feet and took cover. She turned back into her regular form and got on her comm to contact Dominic. “Alright Stealth.” she said. Dominic then placed his fingertips on the side of his head and closed his eyes. He began the process to telepathically switch his and Imani’s mind as Imani’s body sat there motionless with her staring at the ceiling. The henchmen started looking around for Imani as they got up from the ground. Dominic was still working to get their minds switched as there were henchmen coming up the stairs to attack him. A few seconds later, Dominic opened his eyes. He looked around and got up out of his chair and started looking at his body. He looked up and down at his body in satisfaction meaning that the mind swap was complete. “Great job Dom.” Imani said as Dominic. She heard footsteps coming closer to her and she closed her eyes thinking she would turn into her diamond form, but she instead turned invisible. She looked at Dominic’s body and said, “Oh yeah that’s right.” she said to herself. The henchmen then came to the room and stopped in their tracks. They walked into the room looking for Dominic and couldn’t find him. Seconds later, a sudden force field burst popped up out of nowhere and sent the henchmen flying back out of the room knocking them out. “That felt different.” she said as she was becoming visible again. She went to the computer and started figuring out a way to shut the operation down. “Let’s see what you couldn’t do Stealth.” she said. Meanwhile, Dominic, in Imani’s body, was in diamond form jumping on enemies and throwing them across room, all while doing it with a smile. “I didn’t think being this strong could be this fun.” he said laughing. Some of the henchmen started shooting at him and the bullets deflected off the diamond skin. Dominic started walking closer to the henchmen and they started backing up. As they kept firing, Dominic smile grew bigger until he finally grabbed one of the henchmen and used him as a weapon as he was slinging the henchman by his legs to attack the other henchmen. 

Jeffrey was still in the underground base battling countless henchmen. He was flying around dodging their attacks while throwing fireballs to throw them off guard. “This place is too small,” he said to himself still flying around. “I gotta bring this fight outside but I need to get to the weapons first.” He looked around and heard some machines going off in the next room. One of the henchmen then shoots Jeffrey out of the air and Jeffrey crashes on the ground. His flame starts to extinguish as he got up from the ground. The henchmen started walking up towards him. “I’m right here so why not just shoot me.” Jeffrey said. He put one hand behind his back. Jeffrey backed up against the wall and put his hand up on the wall to try to burn it down. The henchmen fired their weapons at Jeffrey, but he turned into his fiery form and flew out of the henchmen’s way just in time. As their bullets and blasts missed Jeffrey, they hit the wall making a big hole of it. Jeffrey then flew behind them and fired the enemies through the hole. He then flew inside the hole and saw that the room he was in was the one where they were making weapons. A henchman was being thrown towards Jeffrey’s way and he threw a fireball at the henchman as a reflex which sent the henchman crashing down to the ground. Jeffrey saw that the henchman being thrown at him was from Dominic, still Imani’s body. As they knocked out all the henchmen, Jeffrey floated down to the ground and extinguished his flame. He walked up to Dominic and asked him, “Diamond, you alright?” “Actually, it’s Stealth.” Dominic responded. “Oh, you did it?” Jeffrey asked as he folded his arms. “Yeah.” They turned around and looked at the weapons and the machines and Jeffrey asked, “Shall we?” “Let’s do it.” Dominic said. 

Back at the research base, Darrell was finishing up his part of the mission by saving all the researchers. He looked at the researchers and said, “That should be everybody.” “What do we do now?” one of the researchers asked. “Some help is on the way. You guys should be fine here.” “Thank you.” another researcher said. Darrell smiled at all of them and then he flew away. “Guys, all the researchers are safe. Where are y’all at now?” Darrell asked over his comm. “Head back to the main base. They just brought out their big guns.” Imani said, still in Dominic’s body. “On my way.” Darrell said. “How are you two looking?” Imani asked to Jeffrey and Dominic. “Almost done here.” Jeffrey said. Dominic was slamming his fists on the machinery and the walls while Jeffrey was putting the whole place on fire. “Alright Stealth!” he yelled. He stopped slamming his fists and he looked up at Jeffrey. “If you punch anymore, we’ll be coming down with it.” He flew over to him and grabbed him and they both flew out of the underground base. As they got out of the underground base and got back to the surface, they heard the underground base falling apart below. The two of them, still in the air, saw both of the small bases imploding from within and sinking into the ground. As they watched, they floated down to the ground and Dominic turned back into Imani’s regular form. “There’s that.” Jeffrey said. Dominic then looked up at the sky and stood there motionless. Jeffrey looked at Dominic and said, “You alright?” He then started touching him and the body was still motionless. “Oh no.” Jeffrey grabbed the motionless body and yelled, “Come on wake up!” Dominic closed his eyes and opened them back up. “Dom, what happened to you?” Jeffrey asked. “Dominic?” Imani asked as she looked at her body. “Oh. I guess I am back.” she said. “Guys,” Dominic said over his comm. “Kinetic, needs your help outside of the main base. AHH!” “Stealth?!” Imani yelled. “I’m good,” Dominic said. “I’m stuck inside fighting with leftover henchmen. It seems that they brought back those big robots that we fought Chambers in. Get to Kinetic immediately.” Jeffrey grabbed Imani as she turned into her diamond form and they both flew over to Kinetic. Darrell was attacking 3 20-foot tall robots as he was flying around and telekinetically throwing trees right at them. One of the robots fired a repulsor blast at Darrell and he fell out of the sky. He landed on the ground and one of the robots started walking towards him. He was about to attack Darrell, but Imani came running out of nowhere and ran through one of the robot’s leg which made the robot fall on its knee. She then jumped in the air and body slammed herself on the robot, breaking the robot into pieces. Darrell searched for the person piloting the robot, but he found no one inside. “Guess those robots didn’t need manual help anymore.” he said. Imani walked beside him and said, “You’re welcome.” “Thanks.” he said. “Some help would be nice!!” Jeffrey screamed out to his teammates. He held up a fire shield blocking attacks coming from the remaining robots. Darrell and Imani saw him as he was getting attacked and Imani ran to an abandoned vehicle and she picked it up and yelled, “Blaze!” Jeffrey looked over at her and he stuck out one arm and he lit the vehicle on fire. Darrell telekinetically grabbed the vehicle from Imani and threw it at one of the robots. The vehicle exploded on impact throwing the robot off guard and gave some time for Jeffrey to take cover. The robot that was attacked set its eyes on Darrell and Darrell started hovering in the air ready to attack. Imani walked up beside Darrell and they both gave a look at each other. He lifted Imani off the ground and threw her inside the robot like Dominic did to her last time. He threw her inside the other robot leaving giant holes inside the two robots. Jeffrey then created larger flames on his body and with rapid speed, he flew through the giant holes of the robots and set them completely on fire. As they were melting, the three of them got together and regrouped and Jeffrey and Imani turned back into their regular forms. “I hope that’s it.” Imani said. As soon as she said that, three more of the giant robots appeared from the base. “You just had to say something didn’t you?” Darrell asked. The three of them got into their battle positions as Imani and Jeffrey turned into their diamond and fiery forms. As the robots were about to attack, Dominic dropped out of nowhere and landed on his feet in front of his teammates. His eyes and hands were a glowing blue transparent color. He threw his arms up and made a force field above the robots. He slammed his arms down and the force field slammed on the robots. He spun around and made another force field come out of his body pushing the robots back and some pieces of the robots started falling off. He then telekinetically lifted all three of the robots and looked back at Jeffrey and gave him a nod. Jeffrey lit the robots on fire and Dominic threw the robots at the main base. As he did that, the robots and the main base both exploded. The explosion was so large that Dominic had to make a force field to protect himself and his teammates, so they won’t be harmed by it. As the explosion died down, Dominic ceased his force field and looked back at his teammates with his nose bleeding and his eyes turning back to normal. Dominic smiled and said, “Bet y’all ain’t know I can do all that.” Jeffrey turned back into his normal form and said, “Well goddamn.” “Now why you didn’t do that last time with Chambers?” Darrell asked. Dominic shrugged his shoulders up giving an I don’t know sign to him. Imani turned back into her normal form and asked, “What’s up with your eyes? I’ve never seen them do that before.” “It only happens if I’m using a lot of power and concentration.” They all looked at what was remaining of the base and Dominic said, “Alright Vanguard. Mission accomplished.”


	3. Chapter 3

Countless hours later, the team arrived back in New York at their massive mansion that they call home after completing their mission in Antarctica. As Jeffrey landed the jet in their hangar bay, all of them exited their jet with Darrell stripping off his all black uniform. “The trip back literally took longer than it did to get there.” Imani said. “Did you forget how long it takes to get to a place like Antarctica?” Dominic asked. “Not everybody knows this type of stuff like you Dom.” Jeffrey said. “Why are you coming out of your suit Darrell?” Imani asked as she stopped walking. “Because I’m tired and I wanna rest.” Darrell said as he continued walking now with his shirt off. “He’s right cause I need it to.” Jeffrey said as he continued walking. “Where y’all going?” Dominic asked. “I don’t know, might take a nap.” Darrell responded. Him and Jeffrey walked away and went inside the elevator to go up to their rooms. As they got inside, the two of them faced Dominic and Imani and waved them goodbye as the elevator doors closed. The remaining two members looked at each other and raised their eyebrows at each other. “So what are you ‘bout to do?” Dominic asked. “To the Lab,” Imani responded. “You?” “The Core Room. To make sure everything we did is dead and done. And maybe look for more trouble just in case.” Dominic said. “You really wanna keep us busy, don’t you?” Imani asked as she started walking. “Ha,” Dominic exclaimed as he followed Imani. “I mean being a hero is a 24/7 job if you didn’t know that.” “I and the rest of us know as you told us plenty of times. Mr. Superhero Expert.” As they arrived at the Lab, Imani said, “Look. Let me get done with this project so I can show you boys later.” “Oh, a surprise.” Dominic said with a mischievous smile as he put his hands together. “Trust me. You guys might like it.” Imani walked in the Lab and turned around to look at Dominic and said, “I’ll see ya.” 

Dominic walked to the Core Room and activated the 3D computer. He took his coat off and threw it off to side as he let out a deep sigh. He started typing on the computer and said to himself, “Hopefully, we’re done with this once and for all.” “Talking to yourself again, Dominic?” CT asked. “CT, everybody does that once in awhile.” Dominic responded with a slight chuckle. “Not as often as you though.” “Alright, no need to bust me out like that.” Dominic started typing more stuff on the computer and he asked, “CT, what info you got on Chambers’ Great Value Hydra team?” After he asked that, the computer started making images in front of Dominic and CT responded happily saying, “Well Dominic, I am happy to report that after a year of this adventure that the Vanguard has taken on is now completely over. With the Vanguard’s involvement, S.H.I.E.L.D. has shut down all operations and captured Christopher Chambers’ remaining henchmen and several others that have escaped from prison. Congratulations Dominic! You and the rest of the team should be proud of this accomplishment you all have made.” “Wow CT, I’ve never heard you speak so upbeat before,” Dominic said. “Did Imani have something to do with this?” She did not. Just thought I would change it up for some fun. Is there a problem?” “No problem at all CT. I’m just used to your classy British accent.” “Not a problem at all Dominic.” CT said in his normal voice as Dominic smiled. “Okay CT, what else you got for me? What else is happening in the world that we need to get involved in?” “Nothing.” Dominic looked up in the air as he was talking to CT and said, “Huh?” The images started changing on the 3D computer and showed videos of various heroes fighting crime. “As you and the others were gone, various superheroes and teams have already handled some of the crimes that were happening here around the world and here in New York City. So as of right now, there’s nothing going on.” Dominic looked around and said with a smile, “Shit, we might have a break.”

Upstairs in the living quarters of their home, Darrell, who already changed into his regular clothes, was looking at the news in the living room while drinking his water laid out on the couch. He came across a story of his team as they were talking about them on their recent mission. The news was interviewing some of the researchers that Darrell rescued as they talked about their run in with Chambers’ henchmen. “They wanted to use us as their scientists for whatever they were creating or building.” one of the researchers said. “We didn’t even know they were here in the area until they came and kidnapped us,” another researcher said. “But thank God for Kinetic and the Vanguard. We wouldn’t be standing here or be alive if it wasn’t for them.” As the segment was about to end, Darrell saw an incoming message on the television. He leaned forward to get a closer look and saw that it was a video call from S.H.I.E.L.D. “Answer.” he said. As he did, an image of Director Nick Fury popped up. “Well, I’m glad to see you’re relaxed.” he said. Darrell immediately got himself together and said, “Fury!” “No need to get discombobulated. I’m just here to congratulate you and everyone else and thank you.” “Oh. You’re welcome. No trouble to report?” “Not as of now. Where’s everybody else at?” Fury asked as he looked around. “They’re busy with their own stuff now. Do I need to get them?” “No need to. I’m literally just calling to congratulate you all and just checking in.” “Well, thanks Fury. Means a lot.” “No problem. We’ll let you guys know if we need anything.” “No problem. Thanks Fury.” Darrell hung up and switched the tv back to the news.

Back in the lab, Imani was seen working on her new project as she was drawing out weird shapes on her chalkboard. After she did that, she went to the back of the lab and opened up a closet to where she found the vibranium that Black Panther gifted to the team awhile back. “Can’t forget about this.” she said to herself. She grabbed the vibranium and placed it on a table next to 4 different colored pieces of leather. After she did that, she wrote down some notes on her notepad and picked up one of the colored pieces of leather. As she was closely examining it with her eyes, she picked up a device and scanned the piece of leather. After that, she read what the device said and said to herself, “Yeah, I need to get that to a higher temperature just in case.” She took the piece of leather and went to another part of the lab. Jeffrey then walks in the lab and looks around the place. He looked at Imani’s new project and started to figure out what her secret project was. She walked back into the front of the lab and was surprised to see Jeffrey in the lab. “Oh God, you scared me.” she said. “You didn’t hear me come in?” Jeffrey asked. “What are you doing in here?” “I asked you a question first.” “No, I didn’t hear you come in. Now answer mine.” “I got bored.” Jeffrey said as he walked around touching stuff. Imani walked up to him and lightly grabbed his hand and said, “Yeah and you don’t have to touch stuff.” Jeffrey walked around some more and asked, “So… new suits?” Imani quickly turned around with a ‘really’ look on her face and said, “No.” “It’s pretty obvious.” Imani looked at the pieces of leather on the table and sighed. “Yes, I’m making new suits for all of us.” Jeffrey clapped his hands and did a little dance. Imani slightly chuckled at him and said, “But don’t tell nobody about this.” Jeffrey stopped dancing and said, “My lips are sealed.” “I hope so before I have to seal them myself.” Jeffrey walked over to the pieces of leather and picked up each of them. “There’s only three of them.” he said. “Here.” Imani said as she tossed the last piece of leather to Jeffrey. As he caught it, he asked, “So where’s the full design if you thought of it?” Imani grabbed a remote and pressed a button on it. A screen then came out of the table and it showed four new suits that Imani designed for herself and her teammates. Jeffrey got a closer look at the screen and was amazed at the new suits. “Imani, these are fire.” he said. “Thanks,” she responded. “Though it’s still not done yet. Well it’s far from done. It’s still in the beginning stages.” “Great things take time, right? “Well speaking of great things that take time.” Imani said as she got out some blueprints from a drawer. She handed them to Jeffrey and as he laid out the blueprints, Imani said, “I’ve been coming up with some ideas or should I say upgrades for our jet.” Jeffrey gave it a closer look and saw all the ideas that she came up with and a huge smile came on his face. “I’m loving this.” he said. “Which is why I made the project specifically for you. I figured with your history with the Air Force and aircraft that you would be the perfect person for this.” “As it should be.” He gave the blueprints another closer look and he said, “So we got a new weapons system, stealth mode for the jet, interface video screen, etc. etc. These are some good things. Though I would add one thing.” He grabbed a pencil nearby and he started drawing on the blueprints. Imani looked over his shoulder confused as to what he was drawing. He got done with his drawing and handed the blueprint to Imani. She grabbed the blueprint and took a look at it. “You can’t be serious,” she said. “A kitchen?!” “It’s a small one and we need it.” Jeffrey said. “No, we don’t.” “After that mission we just got through with, we need it cause the ride to and from Antarctica was long as hell. And I could tell by the look on your face on the jet that you couldn’t handle being on the jet any longer. Plus, you were hungry.” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Okay, maybe we do need one.” “Just a small one. A fridge, a few small cabinets, and we’re good. Just think about if we get stranded somewhere and there was no food around.” He slammed his hand on a table and said, “BOOM! Enter the kitchen.” Imani scoffs at him and Jeffrey said, “You know what? Add a small stove with it just in case.” “Ok now you’re just going overboard.” “Hey y’all,” Dominic said to everybody telepathically. “Come down to the Core Room.” “I should’ve known this break wouldn’t last long.” Imani said. 

Everybody was in the Core Room with Dominic standing in front of them talking to his teammates with arms folded. “So, who’s attacking where now?” Darrell asked. “Nobody and nowhere.” Dominic responded. “Well, what’s the reason you brought us down here?” Imani asked. “We’re going out tonight.” Dominic said. “Out where?” Jeffrey asked. “I don’t know,” Dominic said. “That’s why I brought y’all down here. What y’all wanna do?” “We can eat.” Jeffrey said. “You always wanna eat, fatass.” Darrell said. “Shut up.” Jeffrey said back. “Well, there’s gotta be some clubs popping tonight.” Imani said. “People still say popping?” Darrell asked. “I do.” Imani said back. Jeffrey started laughing. “There’s a Knicks game happening tonight.” Dominic said. “Nobody don’t want to see those sorry ass Knicks, Dom.” Darrell said. “But, it’ll be free courtside seats.” Dominic said. “How?” Jeffrey asked. “I know a few people.” Dominic said. “Let’s just go to Central Park.” Darrell said. All of them started talking over each other trying to get there point across but then CT interrupted them saying, “If I may intervene.” They all stopped and CT continued, “I suggest you guys do everything that you suggested. Start off at the park. Then the Knicks after that. A nice restaurant after and then out to a club that is popping for you all.” “Haha,” Jeffrey laughed. “Popping.” “Well what do you all say?” CT asked. All the Vanguard looked at each other to see what they were going to decide. “Good idea, CT.” Imani said. “We’ll take that.” “Yeah just let me get out of this suit and change.” Dominic said as he was walking to his room.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a sunny and slightly warm day in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The province is a beautiful sight as it is known for their mountains, lakes, national parks, and many other natural sights. St. John is the capital of the province and where 40 percent of the province reside. Far outside of the city, there was a railway warehouse located on the coast of the province. The warehouse was surrounded by a forest and a small lake. The railway warehouse is still in function as there were workers coming in and out the warehouse. A few miles away, a small jet landed in the forest. After it landed, four individuals slowly came out of the jet. The first one to walk out the jet was a white male who was tall and slim and had long white hair. The second individual was a slightly tall Korean female with short black hair. The third individual was a big and bulky Brazilian male with short brown hair, bronzed skin, and had a distinctive mark on his neck. The last individual was a tall light skin black male with short dreadlocks. All of them were wearing dark colored sweatsuits. As they all came out of the jet, the black male started walking forward in front of them and stopped. He looked ahead and said, “That warehouse should be up ahead. About a few miles I think.” He turned around and looked at the Korean woman and said, “Na-ri.” The woman looked at him and smiled. She walked up to him and said, “Be back in a few seconds.” She looked ahead and in a flash, she ran off. A couple seconds later, she came back. “It’s a functioning railway warehouse,” she said. “Full of workers. About 5000 square feet. Inside looks fine. But with a few touchups, it could be the perfect base for us.” “How many workers?” the black man asked. “A few dozen.” she responded. “That should be easy to take care of.” the white man said with a Russian accent as he walked up to both of them. The Brazilian walked up to them as well to get in on the conversation. “Then this thing should be a breeze.” the Brazilian man said. They all looked at the warehouse and the black man said, “Jacinto, get us there.” “With pleasure.” the Brazilian man responded. 

All four individuals gathered in a circle and Jacinto closed his eyes. With his palms facing towards the ground, the earth around them started to shake. As it continued shaking, the ground beneath the individuals started to rise. A few seconds later, the four individuals were levitating in the air by a piece of earth that Jacinto ripped from the ground. They all flew over to the warehouse and landed outside at the front. The black man started looking around and said, “Let’s make this our home, shall we?” He walked a few feet forward and his eyes started glowing into an electrifying white color. He raised one of his arms and his hand started charging up with electricity. He closed his hand making a fist and inside the warehouse, all the power went out. Lights. Machines. Everything electric was cut completely off. The workers looked around confused trying to figure out what the problem was that caused the outage. A few of the workers went to the control center of the warehouse and tried their best to bring the power back on but nothing was working. “Get the power back on now!” a worker yelled. “I’m trying!” a worker yelled back. As they were trying to get the power back on, the warehouse started to shake. All of the workers stopped what they were doing and started looking around the warehouse. “Is this an earthquake?” a worker asked. The shaking of the warehouse started to intensify as objects were starting to fall off shelves. The workers started running to a near exit as the earthquake was getting more intense. The four individuals, with Jacinto causing the earthquake, watched as the workers were running out of the warehouse. “Is everybody out?” Jacinto asked. “I believe so.” the white man said. “Then I guess it’s your time to shine Zanthos.” the black man said as he looked at the white man. Zanthos started to walk forward a few feet as he saw the workers running around in a panic. “STOP!!” Zanthos yelled. The workers stopped running and the earthquake ceased. He walked up to the workers and said, “I’m only going to say this once and you guys are going to follow my orders.” The workers started looking at each and Zanthos continued, “You will go back to your homes and you will forget about this warehouse. You do not have any history here. You will forget that this warehouse or this whole entire area existed. What will you do after is not of my concern. Figure it out.” Zanthos looked at each of the workers and said, “Now leave and never come back.” All of the workers started murmuring and got in their cars and drove off. 

Zanthos look back at the three individuals as they walked up to him. “Well,” Zanthos said. “Welcome to our new home.” They all faced the warehouse and started walking inside. As they walked inside, the black man used his powers to cut the power back on in the warehouse. They looked all around to see where they can start building and remodeling. “Almost everything in here we’ll need to get rid of,” the black man said. “Starting with these tracks.” “I’ll take care of those.” Jacinto said. Jacinto looked down at the railroad tracks he was standing in front of and used his powers to sink them into the earth. “A lot of stuff we’ll need to add in here as well,” Zanthos said. “That, I’ll be happy to take care of.” Na-ri swiftly searched throughout the warehouse which only took a few seconds for her. “A lot of resources we’ll need as well,” she said. “I’ll help you out with that Zanthos.” “Thanks Na-ri.” Zanthos responded. Zanthos continued to look around and saw the black man standing in a corner. “Nolan.” Zanthos said. The black man turned around and said, “Yes?” “Is everything alright?” “I’m fine. I’m just thinking.” He closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them back up and said, “We need to figure out a way we can bring in the Vanguard. Even though they’re young and a new team, they are a group of smart individuals. It won’t be easy.” “I know,” Zanthos said. “But once we get this place started up, it’ll be a little bit easier for us.” “Exactly,” Nolan said as he started walking around. “We’ll need to be smarter than them for sure. Outsmart them or trick them somehow.” “Now you know I can do that easily,” Zanthos said walking up behind him. “My telepathic powers are easily more powerful than Stealth’s and Kinetic’s combined.” “I’m aware. We just need a great plan.” Jacinto and Na-ri walked to Nolan and Zanthos as they ended their conversation. “So… this is it?” Na-ri asked. Nolan looked around and nodded his head. “This is it.” Nolan said. “What’s first boss?” Jacinto asked. Nolan faced all of them and said, “We get this place fixed up and make it look like an actual base. While we do that, we figure out a way to bring in the Vanguard. And we need to make it a good plan. Matter of fact, a great plan. Once we figure that out, then we destroy them. The world will know who the Alpha Clan is after that. And after that, we’ll go after other heroes once we’re done with them.”


	5. Chapter 5

New York City. Late at night. NYC nightlife was in full bloom. Times Square is filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands of tourists. People going in and out of subway trains. People are waiting outside of buildings to get inside for tapings of late night talk shows. Restaurants are crowded and filled. Traffic, of course, are clogged as ever. In Lower Manhattan, the Vanguard, dripped in their best outfits, are walking the streets of the district talking, laughing, and having a good time. “I gotta admit Dom,” Darrell said. “This night out was much needed.” “Look, we deserve this night out,” Dominic said. “After all that we just got through doing for a year, we needed this.” “Thanks again for those courtside tickets again.” Jeffrey said. “Yeah, that he probably used his powers for.” Imani said. “I told you, I know people.” Dominic said. “Alright, then.” Imani said back. “Dom, have you ever used your powers to have things your way?” Darrell asked. “Honestly, yes,” Dominic said. “But that was when I was a teenager. I took a moral code of oath for myself as I got older to never use my powers to an advantage unless absolutely necessary.” “I knew you probably used your powers like that before.” Imani said. “Have you Imani?” Jeffrey asked. “I haven’t.” Imani answered back. “You have.” Darrell said. Imani looked at Darrell and she asked, “Excuse me?” “Look,” Darrell said. “I went inside your mind by accident and saw that you used your powers to your advantage a couple times. We all have in a way.” “So much for being a little angel.” Jeffrey said as he laughed at Imani. Imani gave him a nudge in the arm and he stopped laughing and said, “Ow.” People started noticing that the superhero team was walking the streets of Manhattan. They started whispering to other people to make sure they weren’t dreaming. Jeffrey looked back at a couple who were whispering and gave them a wink. The couple realized that it was them. A few people walked up to the team and stopped them in their tracks. “Oh my God!” one of the people screamed. “I’m such a big fan of you guys.” another person said. “I want a selfie please!!” a person said while waving his cell phone in the air. Another person walked up to them wearing a Vanguard t-shirt which made all them of them smile. “Alright, one at a time.” Dominic said. They all went to one person individually and starting signing stuff and taking pictures with them. “Is this what being a celebrity is like?” Darrell asked. “If it is, you can just sign me up!” Jeffrey said excitedly. “Wait, I want a picture with all of you guys if that’s okay?” one of the people asked. “Um… sure.” Imani said with a smile. All of them got together as the person frantically and excitedly asked another person walking by to take the picture. As they were posing and getting ready to take the picture, Dominic said, “Everybody say ‘Vanguard’!” “Vanguard!!” everybody else said. They took the picture and the person gave each one of them hug and thanked them. Darrell was weirded out by the whole experience. Dominic saw Darrell’s face and told him, “Get used to this Darrell. Welcome to your new superhero celebrity life.” “Time for you to smile a little bit more often.” Imani said as she pinched his cheeks. Darrell lightly shrugged her off as he continued walking. “But I did figure out a way to get people to stop messing with you.” Dominic said. “How?” Darrell asked. Dominic touched Darrell’s head and said, “This big ol’ thing that you call a head.” Jeffrey laughed and Darrell said, “Shut up man.” “Practice it when you’re on your own,” Dominic said. “And you’ll be able to control a large crowd of folks.” “So, why didn’t you use it just now?” Darrell asked. “Cause it’s nice to recognized every once in awhile.” Dominic responded. “Hold on.” Jeffrey said. “What?” Imani asked. “This is our very first night out. We need to remember this moment.” “I’ll remember it in my brain.” Darrell said sarcastically. “You know what I meant.” Jeffrey said back as Darrell slightly chuckled. Jeffrey got out his phone and held out his arm. “You know, I got a better idea.” Darrell said. He took the phone telekinetically out of his hands and had it floating in the air to get a better angle. “Everybody smile, I guess.” Darrell said. They all got close together and took their picture. “Look at you being outgoing for once.” Dominic said. “Yeah don’t push it.” Darrell said.

The quartet continued to walk the streets of Manhattan until they arrived at a nightclub. The nightclub had a long line of people waiting to get inside the popular nightclub. “Y’all wanna go to another one?” Dominic asked. “We could,” Jeffrey said. “Line’s barely moving.” As they were about to walk away, the bouncer of the club noticed them and signaled them to come where he was at. “I know he ain’t talking to us.” Dominic said. The bouncer signaled them again. “Well, I guess he is.” Jeffrey said. They all looked at each other and walked over to the bouncer. As they walked over to the bouncer, he said, “I think the owner will be very happy to see you guys here.” The bouncer opened up the doors for them and Imani said, “Did one you guys use your powers?” “Nope.” Darrell and Dominic both said. They all walked inside the club and the club was super crowded. Loud music is blasting all over the club, bars filled up with countless people, lots of people filling up the dance floor, and V.I.P booths full of various socialites. They all looked around to try and find a place to go to. “Y’all see anything?” Dominic said. “Not a thing.” Imani said. A young short man walked up to the quartet and said excitedly, “What’s up heroes!” He eagerly started shaking their hands and said, “Name’s Kevin Parks but you can call K. I’m the owner of this club. Heard you guys were here so I saved you guys a V.I.P booth for you all. Follow me.” The owner of the club started walking upstairs to their booth and the heroes looked at each other. “Well, this could mean free stuff.” Jeffrey said. Jeffrey was the first to follow Kevin with the rest of the crew following behind. They all arrived at their booth which was glammed out for them and full of free champagne and liquor. “Here’s your booth,” Kevin said. “You guys let me know if you need anything.” “Thank you Kevin.” Imani said as she began to sit down. “Oh and here’s some company for you guys.” Kevin said. As he said that, a few random attractive party girls joined the heroes at their booth. “It would be all girls.” Imani said unimpressed. “Don’t worry, I got you Diamond.” Kevin said. Two attractive party boys then joined the party and sat beside Imani. “Now I feel better.” Imani said with a laugh. Dominic grabbed the bottles of champagne and champagne glasses and poured the drink for everyone at their booth using his powers. “Oh, look at him using his powers.” one of the party girls said. “That is so cool.” another one said. He handed the glasses to everyone in their booth and asked, “What should we toast to?” “Let’s toast to fun!” one of the party girls said. “Yeah, let’s do that!” one of the party boys said. “I got one.” Jeffrey said. “Cheers to finally getting a break!” “I know that’s right.” Darrell said. “Cheers to finally getting a break!!!” everybody said as they clinked their glasses together. 

About half an hour in, the quartet and the party people were seen laughing it up and enjoying themselves. Kevin was seen down at the DJ booth about to make an announcement. “What’s up everybody it’s your boy Kevin!” he said over a mic. People in the club started cheering. “Just wanted to give a shoutout to a few special guests tonight.” “Aw hell.” Darrell said. “Bro, enjoy this,” Jeffrey said. “You might like this new spotlight.” “Yeah, just not a lot though.” Darrell said. “Joining us tonight, we have The Vanguard!!” Kevin said. “Show them some love!” A spotlight was then shown on their booth and people started yelling and screaming for them. The team raised their glasses as a way of saying hello to the crowd downstairs. After that, a waitress came to their booth with more drinks with a couple of the bottles having champagne bottle sparklers. The entire booth cheered as they were being poured their drinks by the waitress. “Hey Stealth!” Kevin said over a mic. Dominic quickly turned around looking confused and saw Kevin on the mic. “We know that you’re from New Orleans so we might as well play some New Orleans bounce music for you.” The DJ started playing music and Dominic started dancing in his seat a little bit. Everyone in the booth stared at Dominic and they started to hype him up. He stopped dancing as soon as they hyped him up and he just started laughing. “Will you girls mind having a dance with me?” Jeffrey asked. “Sure why not?” one of the girls said. Two of the girls grabbed Jeffrey’s arms and pulled him up from the couch and started heading to the dance floor. “Don’t mind if I follow along.” Dominic said as he took one last drink. He started following behind them along with another party girl leaving Imani, Darrell, and a couple of partygoers in their booth. “So,” one of the party boys said. “You liking it here?” “Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Imani responded. “Never been to a club before.” “You haven’t?” another party boy asked. “No, not really,” Imani said with a laugh. “I’m such a nerd that I’ve never been to anything like this before.” Darrell looked over at Imani talking to the guys she was sitting with and gave a slight smile. “You okay, Kinetic?” one of the party girls asked. “Aw yeah,” he responded. “Just not much of an outgoing person.” “Why not?” another party girl asked. “I’m just super introverted. Not really social at all.” “We’ll you’re out tonight and you’re chatting with us so that means something right?” Darrell smiled at them and said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right on that one.” He took a sip of his drink and looked down at the dancefloor and saw Dominic and Jeffrey dancing the night away. He laughed and said, “Hey Imani, look at them down there.” Imani and the party boys looked at them and started laughing. “At least they’re having fun.” Imani said. “Do you wanna dance Diamond?” a party boy asked. “Me,” she asked. “Oh no, I’m not a dancer. I would look silly.” The party boys got up and one of them said, “Come on, it will be fun.” Imani looked up at them as they put their hands out. She gave in as she smiled at them and grabbed their hands. She looked at Darrell and said, “Let’s go Darrell.” “Now you know I’m not going down there.” he responded. “Get your grumpy ass up and come on down.” Imani said as she walked over to him and pulled him up. She, along with the party people, dragged Darrell down to the dance floor as he repeatedly kept telling them no. They all went down to the dance floor and walked next to Dominic, Jeffrey, and the rest of the party group. “’Bout time y’all showed up down here.” Dominic said as he was dancing with the few party girls. Imani started dancing with the party boys and one of them said, “See, you’re a good dancer.” Imani laughed and continued dancing with them. Jeffrey was dancing along too with more of the party girls as he was drinking out of a bottle. “If Jeffrey continues drinking like that, he’ll probably have his second hangover.” Dominic said laughing. “Which means that I gotta carry him home and I’m not doing that.” Imani said as she and Dominic laughed. Darrell was just standing in between the girls as they danced around him. “I know you danced before, come on!” one of the party girls said excitedly. “Yeah, just not around people.” he said as he stood there awkwardly. One of the party girls went up to him and put her hands on his hips. “Just move your hips a little.” she said. She moved his hips for him until he could slowly move it on his own. “That’s it, there you go!” she said. He then started to move his shoulders and slowly he started to dance. “I see you ‘Rell!” Jeffrey yelled out. People started noticing Darrell and started hyping him up. Imani looked over and she couldn’t help but smile. Dominic joined in with Darrell with Jeffrey following behind him and all three of them started dancing together. Imani couldn’t help but smile at them. “Don’t you wanna dance with them?” one of the party boys asked Imani. “Let those boys have fun,” she said. “I’ll dance with you two tonight.” 

A couple hours later, the quartet was still at the club sitting in their booth as they were sweating from dancing the past couple of hours. “Alright, what time is it?” Imani asked. “Damn near 2am.” Darrell said. “It really doesn’t feel like we’ve been here that long.” Jeffrey said. “That’s because we danced the night away lady and gentlemen.” Dominic said as he pulled everyone in and gave everyone a hug. They all laughed and Jeffrey said, “We need to talk about Imani and those two guys she was dancing with the whole night.” All of the guys looked at Imani and she said, “They’re just two guys I danced with. Nothing else.” “Mmhmm.” Dominic said. All the guys started laughing and Imani rolled their eyes. All of a sudden, all of their watches started beeping. They looked at each other and Dominic answered his watch. “Hey, CT.” Dominic said. “Hello,” CT said. “I’m sorry to interrupt you all’s night but I believe something came up.” “There goes our break.” Darrell said with a sigh. “It is nothing urgent,” CT said. “Nothing that needs immediate attention.” “So, what’s up?” Imani asked. “There’s a situation that happened in Canada in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Apparently, there was a railway warehouse in that city that was functioning but now it is listed as inoperable. Nobody knows why or how it happened. Not even the workers who worked there know.” “That’s a little odd.” Jeffrey said. “When did this happen?” Dominic said. “Just several hours ago,” CT responded. “As I said before, this is not urgent so you can enjoy the rest of your night. I will update you guys with more information as soon as more details become available.” “Thanks CT.” Imani said. “Well, at least it isn’t nothing big.” Darrell said. “Yeah, but that sounds super weird,” Dominic said. “It sounds like no workers have no memory of that place or something like that.” “It could probably just be nothing,” Jeffrey said. “I mean it is Canada after all.” “What is that supposed to mean?” Darrell said. “It’s Canada,” Jeffrey said. “Nothing happens up there.” “Hmph,” Dominic said as he took a drink. “You’d be surprised.” “So what should we make of it?” Imani asked. “It’s probably just gonna be an investigative mission,” Dominic said. “But we can discuss more in the morning.” He started yawning and Jeffrey said, “I know you not yawning.” Dominic laughed and said, “Maybe so.” “It has been a long night for us.” Darrell said. “But as we all said it was much needed for us,” Imani said. “So now it’s time to get back into the norm of things. Maybe.” “But until then, we stay here for another 30 minutes and go home,” Jeffrey said. “Agreed?” “Why not.” Dominic said as he yawned again. Jeffrey grabbed Dominic and said, “I think we need to get you back on that dance floor and wake you up old man.” They both laughed as they walked backed down to the dance floor with Imani and Darrell following behind them as they spend their final moments of their night out on the dance floor.


	6. Chapter 6

That next morning, all of the Vanguard were inside the hangar bay at their home as they were preparing to fly off to Canada. As it was not a serious mission for them, the heroes were dressed in comfortable clothing as they were all wearing different colored tracksuits branded with their insignia on them. As they all got on the jet, Dominic was explaining the mission to his teammates. “Alright, so all we need to do is find out what’s happening at that warehouse,” he said. “Depending on what’s going to happen, we have to be prepared for anything. But let’s hope this is just an in and out type of mission.” “It sounds like nothing much happened at that warehouse so I don’t see a reason to go.” Darrell said. “To double check to make sure nothing is really going on,” Imani said. “You should know, private detective. “Yeah, whatever.” Darrell said. “CT, can you send the coordinates please?” Jeffrey asked. “Coordinates sent Jeffrey.” CT responded. “You guys ready?” Jeffrey asked. Everybody was in their seat and Dominic said, “Ready when you are Airman Morris.” Jeffrey turned on all controls of the jet and the team was off to Canada for the mission. 

Couple hours later, they arrived in Canada. Still flying to their exact destination, everybody except for Jeffrey was asleep. He looked back at his sleeping teammates and said, “Come on you guys, we’re almost there.” His teammates were still sleeping. Jeffrey rolled his eyes and said, “CT, wake them up.” CT sounded an alarm in the jet which woke up everybody and got them all in a panic mode. Imani immediately turned into her diamond form and Dominic immediately held up a small force field. “Thanks, CT.” Jeffrey said. “You’re welcome, sir.” “Jeffrey, what the hell did you do?” Darrell asked. “Wake you all up.” Jeffrey responded. Imani turned back into her regular form and said, “You know you didn’t have to do all that.” “I didn’t do it because CT did it.” Jeffrey said. “Yeah, thanks a lot,” Dominic said. “I’m guessing we’re close.” “We’re in Canada.” Jeffrey said. “Good,” Dominic said. “Hopefully, this won’t take long.” “Yeah, cause I wanna go home and get some more sleep.” Darrell said. “You always sleep for some reason.” Jeffrey said. “That’s because I love it too much.” “Okay, so what do you guys think happened to this warehouse?” Imani asked. “Maybe it just went out of business.” Jeffrey responded. “It has to be more than that,” Dominic said. “I hope it’s not. It just all seems odd.” “Well, we’ll figure it out when we get there.” Darrell said. “CT, how long before we make it to our destination?” Jeffrey asked. “Approximately, twenty minutes Jeffrey.”

Na-ri was out in a neareby field looking for supplies for her and the Alpha Clan’s new headquarters. As she was gathering supplies, she saw a jet land nearby where she was. She paused what she was doing and stayed around to see who was coming out the jet. She saw Dominic come out the jet first and she said, “Oh no.” She quickly ran back to their headquarters and found the rest of her team busy with other things. “Guys!” she yelled out. “What is it Na-ri?” Nolan asked as he walked to her. The rest of the members walked to her and she said, “They’re here.” Everybody looked surprised at her. “Are you sure it was them?” Jacinto asked. “Positive,” she responded. “I saw Stealth come out of their jet. They’re in a nearby field.” “Well, I say we get to bringing them down.” Jacinto said as the earth started to shake slightly. “No,” Nolan said as he put his hand on Jacinto’s chest. “We stick to the plan. And right now, we need to make sure we’re not seen by them.” As he said that, he looked at Zanthos and Zanthos nodded his head and said, “Don’t worry. I got this.”

Back at the jet, all the members were out of the jet as they started looking around for the warehouse. “Hold on.” Dominic said. He looked at his watch and pressed a couple buttons on it. The watch showed the way of where the warehouse was and Dominic said, “It’s about 5 miles ahead north.” “So why did we park far?” Darrell said. “Just in case if somebody were to attack us and they shot our jet down.” Dominic said. “He is right on that.” Imani said as Darrell rolled his eyes. “We are well equipped to protect us from that.” Darrell said. “Anyways,” Dominic said. “Y’all wanna walk or fly over there?” Everybody looked at Dominic like he was stupid and he said, “Guess I know the answer to that.” Jeffrey transformed into his fiery form and was the first one to fly away. Darrell followed behind. Dominic created a force disc in front of him and Imani and they both stepped on it. They both flew away and caught up with the others. In just one minute, they all arrived at the destination but something seemed off to them. They all landed and Imani asked, “Where is it?” They all looked confused as they saw no warehouse to investigate. “Dom, you sure this is it?” Jeffrey asked. “This is the coordinates CT sent us.” Dominic responded. “Maybe there really wasn’t nothing here.” Darrell said. “Knew it,” Jeffrey said. “Nothing happens in Canada.” “And as I said before, you’d be surprised of what happens in Canada.” Dominic said. He started looking around and he said, “I could be wrong, but let’s split up. Maybe there’s something around these parts that we don’t know about.” Everybody nodded at Dominic and they all went their separate ways. “Make sure y’all check everywhere,” Dominic said to them telepathically. “If y’all find anything, let me know. And I’ll do the same for y’all.” Imani walked a couple miles until she came up on a lake. She looked at the lake and she said to herself, “Maybe it’s an underwater warehouse. Wouldn’t hurt to look.” She turned into her diamond form and she dived into the lake and swam around to look for clues. Dominic was nearby Imani as they stayed close to each other until they went completely separate. Dominic used his invisibility powers to make the ground invisible to see if there was anything underneath. He continued on for a couple miles and still couldn’t find anything. Darrell used his telepathic abilities to find if anybody was close by. “Come on, there’s gotta be somebody around these parts.” he said to himself. He continued on for several miles and still couldn’t find anything. Jeffrey was getting frustrated with not finding anything. He looked up in the sky and said to himself, “If there’s nothing on ground, maybe there’s something in the air.” He turned into his fiery form and quickly took flight. As he reached his point in the sky, he started to hover and look around his airborne surroundings. “Well, there’s only one way to find out if something is up here in the sky. And they’re probably hiding.” Jeffrey said. He closed his eyes and quickly let out a burst of flames from his body to see if anything was in the sky. His teammates down below heard him using his powers and looked up at him. “You got anything Blaze?” Dominic said. “Negative.” Jeffrey responded. “Same here,” Dominic said. “Anybody else?” “Nothing over here.” Darrell said. “Not even in the lake.” Imani said. “Rendezvous back at the jet.” Dominic said as he took a deep sigh. As they all met back up at the jet, Jeffrey said, “Alright, I guess nothing happened.” “Yeah, but this all seems strange and weird to me,” Dominic said. “CT, with that information you sent us last night, who was the source?” “I received the information from local news stations here in Newfoundland and Labrador.” “Well, looks like we’re gonna make a few more stops here in this lovely city.” Imani said. “And you’re exactly right,” Dominic said. “CT, can you send us coordinates of each news stations to us individually please?” “Just sent it to all of you guys,” CT said. “There are total of four locals news stations here in this providence. I sent each individual one to all of you individually.” “Thanks, CT.” Darrell said. “You have your coordinates,” Dominic said. “Be on your way.” Dominic was the first one to fly off with Jeffrey and Darrell following suit. Imani went inside the jet and prepared to get ready for flight. Jeffrey flew back down in front of the jet and floated outside of the window. “Can you even fly this jet?” he asked. “I’ll figure it out, thank you very much,” Imani said. “Besides, I got CT to help me out so I’m good. Thanks though.” Imani smiled at Jeffrey and he laughed back and flew away. Imani took control of the jet and headed off to her destination. 

“Coast is clear.” Zanthos said looking out of a window from inside the warehouse. “Nice work keeping us undetected.” Nolan said as he walked up to him. “Yeah, that was a close one.” Jacinto said. “I told you guys I can keep us away from them.” Zanthos said. “Na-ri, how’s the hunting going for supplies?” Nolan asked. “Fine,” she responded. “Once I get done with the supplies, I’ll find a nearby group who can help put this headquarters together and Zanthos can take it from there.” “Easy task for me.” Zanthos said. “Nolan, should we keep an eye out on the Vanguard,” Jacinto asked. “Seems like they’re not leaving this city anytime soon.” “Already taken care of,” Zanthos said. “I erased the memories of all the local reporters who reported on this building so we should be good.” “Thank you.” Nolan said. Na-ri left the group and continued looking for supplies for their new headquarters. “Jacinto, how’s your part coming along?” Nolan asked. “It’s actually coming along.” he responded as he was building extra structures inside using his powers. “Great job.” Nolan said. Nolan walked away and went inside a separate room where it had a large computer inside. He sat at the computer and pulled up files on all members of The Vanguard. Pictures of the superhero team started popping with detailed information such as their hometown, family information, powers, former careers, etc. He started studying them as he read through each one of their files. As he did that, he tried to find the team’s headquarters but couldn’t get any information on that. Zanthos and Jacinto walked in the same room that Nolan was in and Jacinto asked, “You got anything else on them?” “I’m trying to find their headquarters but I can’t find nothing.” Nolan said as he turned around to look at them. “You know, I’ve been trying to get that info from their minds when they were here but it seems like it was blocked,” Zanthos said. “Stealth must’ve had something to do with that.” “Well, they’re pretty smart for having their home blocked off.” Nolan said. “Last I checked, nobody knows where their headquarters are located,” Jacinto asked. “Not even other heroes.” “That puts a dent on our plan.” Nolan said. “How so?” Zanthos said. “Originally, the plan was to attack them at their home but it looks like we may have to improvise.” Nolan said. Na-ri came speeding back in and said, “Supplies are all in. I also found a group of construction workers five miles out so Zanthos whenever you’re ready, I’m ready.” “Before you two leave, we need another plan about The Vanguard.” Nolan said. “Yeah, I have nothing.” Jacinto said. Everybody started thinking for a few seconds and Zanthos said, “If we can’t get to them, then they get to us.” Nolan looked at Zanthos and gave him a smile. “I like that.” Nolan said. “A good idea, but how do we get them to us?” Jacinto asked. “Well, we can’t bring them here,” Na-ri said. “If we do, then our entire cover is blown.” “Then we take them someplace else,” Nolan said. “Someplace where they don’t know and where we have an advantage.” “So we keep the fight here in Canada?” Jacinto said. “Correct,” Nolan said. “Unfamiliar territory for all of them including Stealth since he has more experience than the rest.” “We have to find ways to overpower them,” Zanthos said. “They’re a powerful team. Stealth and Kinetic alone could take on all of us.” “Keywords: take on. Not beat us.” Nolan said. “So like you said before, we just need to outsmart them?” Na-ri asked. “Right,” Nolan said. “But we also need to hit them with something unexpected. Something that they can’t see coming.” He looked at Zanthos and said, “We need a diversion for them.” “You got it.” Zanthos said as he evilly smiled back at Nolan. “Once we hit them with a diversion, they’ll be vulnerable after that,” Nolan said. “And that’s where we get them. For now. Then I got something bigger for them after that.” “How big?” Zanthos asked. “Not sure,” Nolan responded. “But it’ll be big. And that’ll be the part where we finally have them at the grasp of our hands.” Nolan looked back at his teammates and said, “Na-ri and Zanthos. Get those people in here and fix this place up. Jacinto, you’ll come with me. We got plans we must finish out.” 

In another part of the city, Darrell walked inside of one of the news stations that CT sent him. As he walked in, everybody inside looked and locked their eyes on Darrell with their faces changed from focused to excitement. “Oh my God!” a person shouted. “It’s Kinetic from the Vanguard!!” another person said excitedly. They all ran up to Darrell with their phones in their hands and started taking pictures. As they were running up to Darrell, Darrell was getting overwhelmed from dozens of people running up to him. “Oh no.” he said to himself quietly. As they got closer to Darrell, he held out his hand in front of him. The crowd still running up to him came to a halt as one person fell to the ground from running into an invisible force field. It happened to be Darrell using his powers to hold up a telekinetic shield to stop the people from running. “I’m sorry everyone,” he said. “I got a little overwhelmed. But I’m only here for something serious. Are any of the journalists here right now?” A few people raised their hands and walked up to Darrell but the telekinetic force field was still up. “Um, could you take this down?” one of the journalists asked. “I’m sorry.” Darrell said as he took the field down. He walked up to the journalists and said, “Follow me.” They walked to a small area so they could talk privately. “First, I wanna apologize for barging in unexpectedly.” Darrell said. “It is fine,” one of the journalists said. “We usually don’t have celebrities of your caliber come into our studio.” “Didn’t think we would be so big here in Canada,” Darrell said. “Anyway, do you guys know about some railway warehouse here in this city? About several miles from here.” “Yes, we actually did a report on that.” another one of the journalists said. “Could you give me more info on that story if you can?” Darrell asked. “There isn’t much information that we had to report,” one of the journalists said. “We just know that it closed down due to financial reasons.” Darrell nodded his head and said, “Ok. Were they any plans for it after it closed? Did somebody buy it out? Is it being turned into something else?” “There are no plans for it that we know of.” a journalist said. “Not even from the mayor or anyone in the government?” Darrell asked. “No sir,” the same journalist said. “I’m sorry Kinetic. Wish we had more info but we don’t. May I ask why you need the information?” “Highly classified superhero stuff.” Darrell responded. The journalists’ faces lit up in excitement and they all started looking at each other. “Okay, again I’m sorry to interrupt you guys’ time. But I thank you for answering my questions.” Darrell said as he started to walk away. “Bye Kinetic!” a journalist yelled out. The other journalists looked at him strange and he said, “It’s Kinetic. He’s my favorite.” Darrell smiled back at him and the rest of the crowd from earlier saw him walking and they all started waving goodbye to him with a few of them recording him walking out. 

As he walked out the building, he turned around and looked inside from a window. “Let’s see if they’re really telling the truth.” he said to himself. Squinting his eyes, he used his telepathic powers to scan each person’s mind inside to find any more information. While going through their minds, he came across some of them that highly disturbed him. “Some of you people need Jesus or whoever you all pray to.” he thought to himself. After about a minute, he finished with his task and was unsuccessful at it. “Guess they’re right.” he said. As he was walking away from the building, he got on his communicator to communicate with his other teammates. “What you guys got?” Darrell asked. “Closed down for financial reasons.” Imani said. “No plans on anything after.” Dominic said. “Maybe there isn’t something going on up here.” Jeffrey said. “Maybe so.” Darrell said. “So… call it a day?” Imani asked. “I guess we have no other choice.” Dominic said. “Where you at Imani?” Jeffrey asked. “Sending the coordinates now,” Imani said. “See y’all soon.”


	7. Chapter 7

Sometime later, the Vanguard arrived back at home feeling confused and unaccomplished from their recent mission. As they were exiting their jet, Dominic said, “Ok. So none of those local news stations couldn’t give us anything. I’m trying to tell y’all something ain’t right up there.” “Dom, what if Jeff is right?” Imani asked. “What?!” Dominic asked as he swiftly turned around and looked at Imani with a puzzled look. “She asked, ‘What if I was right?’” Jeffrey said. “And he might be.” Darrell said. “I think he’s just afraid that he’s wrong.” Jeffrey said. Dominic stopped in his tracks and said, “No, that’s not the thing.” “Well you seem agitated.” Darrell said as he walked by. “I’m not agitated,” Dominic said. “I’m just…” “Paranoid?” Imani asked. “Cautious.” Dominic said. “Look Dom,” Jeffrey said as he walked up to Dominic and put his hands on his face. “It’s okay to be wrong and I’m right. As I said, nothing happens in Canada. And that just means we could rest a little bit longer before something else pops up.” Dominic removed Jeffrey’s hands from his face and said, “Jeff. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. But this ain’t a right or wrong type of situation. I’m just being super cautious about all this. Usually things like this happened most of the time when I was with the Avengers and they ended up being something bigger than we thought.” “Keyword: most.” Jeffrey said. “Dom,” Imani said. “Would it help you if I came and help with whatever you were about to do?” “Please.” he responded. “Well, while y’all two try to figure out nothing, I’m gonna be in the Practice Room,” Jeffrey said. “I feel like that mission cheated me out of some action.” Jeffrey walked away from the group and headed to the Practice Room. “I guess I’ll follow up right behind him so… see ya.” Darrell said as he walked off. Dominic and Imani looked at each other and proceeded to the Core Room.

As the duo walked into the Core Room, Dominic walked up to the 3-D computer and started typing on the computer. “Hey, there’s no need to overwork yourself over this.” Imani said as she put her hand on Dominic’s shoulder. “I know,” Dominic said. “I just hate that I’m so cautious about things like this.” He continued typing on the computer as a few holographic images pulled up. He touched a holographic image and the image transformed into the railway warehouse. “You see anything?” Imani asked. Dominic took a very close look at it and said, “Nothing.” He sighed and looked at Imani and said, “Maybe Jeff is right. Maybe, I am being too cautious. Matter of fact paranoid.” “No you’re not paranoid,” Imani said. “Like you said, you’ve seen stuff like this before. But… there could be nothing going on at this point.” “Yeah, you all probably right on this one.” Dominic said. “It’s okay to be wrong sometimes.” Imani said as she stood next to him. “Yeah, that’s grand coming from you.” Dominic said. “Excuse me?” she asked as she looked up at him. “Whenever you’re wrong about something, you go on a rant and you don’t talk to us for a couple days,” he said. “Remember the last time you were wrong about something?” “That was so long ago.” “You call two weeks ago a long time ago?” “Uhh… yeah.” “Wow, you women are something else.” Imani looked at Dominic and asked, “What did you say?” Dominic looked straight ahead trying to avoid looking at Imani. “Um… I said ‘I like you hair’.” Dominic said. “You said us women are different,” she said. “What do you mean by that?” She walked up to Dominic and he got a little bit nervous. “Hey Jeff!” Dominic shouted. Imani turned around and Dominic quickly ran away. “Dominic!” Imani shouted. She turned into her diamond form and started chasing after him. Dominic looked back and saw Imani in her diamond form chasing after him. “Can’t chase me if you can’t see me.” he said while he was turning invisible. 

In the Practice Room, Jeffrey and Darrell were inside practicing as they were reliving their battle with Christopher Chambers from a year ago. As they were battling, they did some things completely different from what they did originally. Darrell was in the middle of the street as Christopher was in his gigantic robot was attacking the city. Darrell threw out his arms as he telekinetically stopped the robot from walking. “Hey!” Christopher yelled. He saw that Darrell was stopping him and he got ready to use one of his weapons. One of the robots fingers changed into a flamethrower and started firing at Darrell. Darrell looked up and saw the flames coming in closer to him but Jeffrey jumped right in front of him and absorbed the flames. Jeffrey turned into his fiery form and flew right to Christopher’s flamethrower and burned it to a crisp. “No!” Christopher yelled. Darrell telekinetically ripped off one of the robots legs and the robot fell straight to the ground. Darrell look at Jeffrey and Jeffrey said, “Already on it.” He lit up the robot’s leg in flames and Darrell slammed it inside the robot causing a small explosion. Darrell held up a telekinetic shield while Jeffrey flew up in the air to avoid the explosion. As the explosion died down, Jeffrey hovered back down next to Darrell and said, “You know you killed him right?” “It’s a hologram Jeff.” Darrell responded. The Practice Room changed from the streets of Manhattan back into the original white empty room. “Good practice session though.” Darrell said as he was walking out. Jeffrey followed up behind him. They both walked upstairs and went into the closet in the Base to change clothes. As they were changing clothes, Jeffrey said, “You seemed different in practice. Something wrong?” “I’ve been feeling something strange since we got back from Canada.” Darrell said. “Not feeling well or something?” Jeffrey asked. “Nah, it’s not that,” Darrell responded. “I feel fine physically. It’s my powers. Like I can feel another person inside my head. But it’s faint though.” “You think it could be one of us?” “It’s not one of you guys. I’m around you guys everyday so everybody’s presence is strong and familiar.” “Maybe you’re telepathy is getting stronger.” “Nah, it ain’t that either.” Darrell said as he was finished changing and was walking out. Jeffrey quickly followed behind him as they both got on the elevator. “Dominic told me how my telepathy would get stronger but it ain’t by having something faint in the back of my mind.” Darrell said. “Maybe it’s nothing then.” Jeffrey said. They both arrived on the first floor of their home and started walking to the living room. “Jeffrey, can I ask you something?” Darrell asked. “Yeah, what’s up?” he responded. “How are you so carefree?” Darrell asked. “I mean… man you’ve been in the military. You’ve been out in the field and you don’t seem to be scarred from that. How do you handle that?” “I still get memories of it from time to time,” Jeffrey said as he took a seat on their couch. “I try not to let stuff like that get a hold of me. Yeah, it was rough. Rougher than I imagined. Even when I got my powers, that crash still haunts me. But I try to look at the positives in those type of situations. I got to serve my country. Be an officer. And with that crash, I came out alive. And I got these awesome powers which led me to you guys.” Darrell sat next to him and said, “You have a pretty great life man.” “You do too.” Jeffrey said. “You know the life I had bro.” “I know, but here’s the thing. You can’t let the past define you now. Yeah, you’ve been through some pretty rough stuff as a kid. But you were able to overcome it. You ended up going to college. Working for NYPD. Now you’re a superhero. And the most important part is that you got to reconnect with your parents. So you’re doing good now.” Darrell sighed and looked up at Jeffrey, “Maybe I need to start being like you for a change. Or like Dom or Imani.” Darrell said. “Maybe so,” Jeffrey said. “But we still like the hard exterior, tough but somewhat gentle Darrell.” Darrell slightly chuckled and lightly punched Jeffrey in the arm. “I guess you alright too.” Darrell said.   



	8. Chapter 8

Back at the Alpha Clan’s new headquarters, the workers inside the former railway warehouse were putting the finishing touches on the headquarters. The Alpha Clan were in a separate room with a large computer screen right in front of them. Nolan pressed a button on the computer screen and random images of different buildings popped up on the screen. “Alright,” Nolan said. “These are some of the biggest buildings that we have in this city. All located in downtown. Every building serves as a significant importance to this city. With that being said… Zanthos. You will be hidden in secret place. From there, you will trick the Vanguard into thinking that all of these buildings are being are being attacked.” “Easy.” Zanthos said. “From there, the public will be thinking that the Vanguard are attacking the citizens,” Nolan said. “After that, we will lure them to this plant.” Nolan pressed another button on the computer screen. A picture of a factory popped up and Na-ri said, “This is the Industrial Plant of NL.” “Correct,” Nolan said. “This place will give us an advantage over the Vanguard. “How so?” Jacinto said. Nolan pressed a few more buttons on the computer screen and multiple videos of the Vanguard popped up. “From the videos that we watched, most of their battles are within close proximity of each other,” Nolan said. “The Vanguard rarely does battles that are spaced out. By being spaced out, this throw them off balance to where they can’t coordinate correctly.” “Nolan,” Jacinto said. “Aren’t you worried that they might be able to catch on quickly? I don’t know about Kinetic’s telepathy but Stealth’s is pretty strong from what I heard. And Diamond’s building up to be one of the smartest people on this planet.” “Don’t worry about that Jacinto,” Nolan said. “I’ll have something prepared just in case.” “Plus, with my telepathy being stronger than both Stealth’s and Kinetic’s combined, it shouldn’t be that hard of a problem.” Zanthos said. “But with Stealth’s years of experience from being an Avenger and especially working with S.H.I.E.L.D, the Vanguard still poses as a threat to us.” Na-ri said. “That is true,” Nolan said. “But I know with our combined powers and expertise that we have together, we still pose as a big problem for them. Once we finally defeat them, then it’s off to other superheroes. And next… a possible takeover.” 

Nolan walks out of the room with the rest of his team following behind him. “The Vanguard is like practice for us,” he said. “We should’ve handled them long ago when they first started. And you see how that turned out with hiding behind Chambers. And ruined our immediate plans we had for him and for us together.” They all stopped walking and Nolan turns around to look at his teammates. “No longer will we have to hide behind closed doors,” he said. “The world will know who the Alpha Clan is in short time.” Nolan turned around and the quartet continued walking until they walked into a large space full of different types of technology as if they walked into a tech hub. They see the workers that Zanthos controlled putting the finishing touches on their new headquarters. The workers have been working nonstop as they had no sleep since they started on this project for the Alpha Clan. “This is turning out to be a success Zanthos.” Na-ri said as she walked down a set of stairs. “Don’t thank me just yet,” he responded. “It’s all about what Nolan thinks at this point.” Nolan walks down the stairs and studied the room that he was in. Watching closely at every worker in the room. Admiring the technology. He touched one of the workers and said, “You.” The worker turned around with had a rugged look on his face and said, “Yes?” “How’s the rest of the place looking?” Nolan said. “Ready to go sir.” the worker said. Nolan walks away and looks at the rest of the place. Na-ri followed up behind him and said, “I think this is going to be good.” “I have that same feeling, Na-ri.” Nolan said. As they both walked around, they look and see that the workers have done a great job with their place as they see fully furnished rooms, a room for them to practice their powers, and so much more. “They did an excellent job with this,” Nolan said. “And in such little time.” 

The duo walked back to the large tech space and looked up at Jacinto and Zanthos. Nolan gave Zanthos a hand signal and Zanthos nodded his head. He activated his telepathic powers and communicated with the workers. “Everybody listen up,” he started off with. “You’re work here is done. You all may go back to your pathetic lives. You will not speak of this to anyone. And you will not speak of this to anyone because I will erase everyone’s memories of this place. Now… be gone.” All of the workers walked out of the building sluggishly and dragging their feet for the endless hours of work that they have put in. Jacinto and Zanthos walked down to where Nolan and Na-ri were and Jacinto said, “This all turned out to be great for us.” “Yes,” Nolan said. “Yes it did.” “So,” Na-ri said. “I would say now would be a good time to go after the Vanguard. We have all the resources we need.” “Not as of yet.” Nolan said as he and everyone else walked back to their room with the large computer screen. “We need to figure out how we can send out a fake distress signal to them,” Nolan said. “They have this A.I. system that is very hi-tech. We need to figure out a way to shut the A.I. system down but we don’t know where they live at.” “And that’s where I come in at.” Na-ri said. “Huh?” Zanthos said. “While we were busy hiding from them while they were here, I quickly made a tracking device and put it on SkyBlaze without him knowing.” Na-ri said. She walked up to the computer screen and pressed a couple of buttons on it and pulled up the Vanguard’s coordinates. “Wow.” Nolan said. “Nice work, Na-ri.” Jacinto said. “And with that to our advantage, I can quickly build a device that can disable their A.I. system for a short time.” Zanthos said. “And with that, we can go ahead and send out that fake distress call to them.” Nolan said. “How quickly can you build that device Zanthos?” Jacinto asked. “Well, with the resources that we have now, should take me no less than an hour.” Zanthos said. “Good,” Nolan said. “I need you to start building that device immediately. Jacinto, you and I will handle the fake distress call. Na-ri, once Zanthos is done with the device, you’ll quickly run to the Vanguard’s headquarters and shut off their system and let us know immediately when you’re done.” “You got it.” Na-ri said. They all looked at each other and Nolan said, “Let’s get to work.”


	9. Chapter 9

Later that evening, the Vanguard was relaxing in their living room with all of them doing different activities. Darrell was watching television, Imani was reading a book, Jeffrey was on his phone playing games, and Dominic was playing around with his powers. A relaxing time for them after their mission from hours ago and for them, it was much needed after a year of countless missions after they defeated Christopher Chambers. Imani finished her book and quickly closed it. She quickly sat up and asked her team, “Are y’all hungry?” “Yes.” all the guys said as they were still paying attention to their activities. “Cook us something Dominic.” Darrell said. “I cooked yesterday ask somebody else.” Dominic said. “Imani?” Darrell asked. “I did the day before.” Imani said. “Blaze?” Darrell asked. “You cook Kinetic, I did several days ago.” Jeffrey said. “Guess we’ll starve huh?” Dominic asked. “How about we just order a pizza?” Imani said. “From where is the question.” Jeffrey said. “Papa John’s is always a great choice.” Dominic said. “No it’s not,” Darrell said as he turned around to look at Dominic.. “As long as you been living in New York, you should know that New York pizza is better than the chain joints.” “Alright then,” Imani said “Where should we order from then, Darrell?” “Too many places to name,” he said as he got up and walked around. “We got joints in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Times Square, Harlem, and everywhere to be honest.” “Then you choose the place.” Jeffrey said. “Fine.” Darrell responded. As Darrell walked into another room, he yelled out, “What do you guys want?” “Surprise us.” Imani said. “Alright, we’re getting an Hawaiian pizza with extra pineapples.” Darrell said. “NO!!” his teammates screamed out. Darrell chuckled and said, “I’ll just get the usual.” Jeffrey stopped playing his game and said, “You know, I wonder how long this is gonna last.” “What do you mean by this?” Imani asked. “This,” Jeffrey said with arms flinging around. “This relaxation. Vacation.” Dominic quickly stopped what he was doing and sprinted to Jeffrey. He put a small force field over his mouth and said, “Don’t you say another word.” Imani laughing out loud asked, “What is your problem?” “Because when somebody says that, shit happens.” Dominic responded. “Oh you one of them superstitious type folks.” Jeffrey said. “I’m not superstitious,” Dominic said. “I’m stating facts.” “Sure you are.” Jeffrey said. “Alright then,” Dominic said as he stood up. “If something doesn’t happen within the next day or two, I’ll give you $100.” “And if something does happen within the next day or two, I’ll give you $100.” Jeffrey said as he extended his hand out. Dominic shook his hand and said, “Bet.” “You guys are something else.” Imani said as she got up and walked to where Darrell was at. 

Darrell hung up the phone as Imani walked in and he said, “What’s up.” “Dom and Jeff making another one of their stupid bets.” Imani said. “What’s it about this time?” Darrell asked as he rolled his eyes. “Jeffrey said something about how long this will last and Dominic got fired up saying ‘Don’t say that because trouble will actually happen blah blah blah’,” Imani said. “So they both betted $100 to see if there is trouble we’re gonna be in or not.” “Sounds pretty stupid.” Darrell said. “And that’s typical of them.” Imani said as they both laughed. She walked around and asked, “So where did you end ordering from?” “It’s called Prince Street up in Manhattan,” Darrell said. “Been there a few times. Pretty good too. I will also mention that NYC pizza is a ten times better than Chicago pizza.” “Oh now you just talking straight out your ass Darrell.” Imani said as she turned around and looked at him. “If stating facts is the right thing to do, then I wouldn’t mind talking out of my ass.” Darrell said. “Oh come on!” Imani said as she chuckled. “Ok fine,” Darrell said. “Let’s ask the others.” They walked vigorously back into the living room and stood in front of the tv. “Umm…” Dominic said. He used his powers and separated the two from blocking his and Jeff’s view of the tv. “Question.” Imani said. “This better not be one of her questions about one of her lab projects.” Jeffrey said. “It’s not.” Imani responded. “Okay,” Darrell said. “Who has the better pizza? New York City? Or Chicago?” “NYC, duh.” Dominic said. “The Chi.” Jeffrey said. Dominic and Jeffrey both turned their heads and looked at each other with disgusted looks. “I knew you had horrible taste.” Dominic said. “My taste is immaculate I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Wow.” Dominic said. Now Jeffrey and Dominic started arguing about pizza and a few seconds later, Imani and Darrell joined in on the argument. 

Outside of the state of New York, there was a quick blur racing towards the ground. The blur was going through the streets of NYC swiftly like lightning. Going as fast as the speed of light, the blur was blazing through different districts. Manhattan. Brooklyn. Harlem. Times Square. Queens. Until the blur came to a stop outside of NYC. The flash happened to be Na-ri. Dressed in a dark orange catsuit, she blended in with the dark to help her hide in the shadows. She stopped in a wealthy neighborhood full of mansions and full lakes and driveways the size of a basketball court. She looked at her watch and pressed a few buttons on it until the Vanguard’s coordinates came up. “I’m close,” she said to herself. “But I can’t get too close or else their A.I. will spot me.” She started walking to the heroes’ house without being seen by the neighbors. 

A few minutes later, she sees their house from a mile away and smiles. “Here we go.” She gets closer and closer until she realizes that she can’t get anymore closer without her being spotted. She reaches in her pocket and gets out the device that Nolan and Jacinto made. “This device better work.” she said to herself. She stared at the house for a few seconds and took a deep breath. She got into her running position and took another deep breath. She quickly ran up to the house and placed the device on the fence of their house. She ran back to her original spot and took a quick sigh. “Alright that’s done.” she said. She took out her earpiece and put it in her ear. “It’s done,” she said. “We’re good to go.” “Let’s get this thing started then.” Nolan said on the communicator. Na-ri ran back to Canada to finish out the plan with the Alpha Clan.

Back inside, the Vanguard were still arguing about pizza. Dominic and Darrell stopped arguing and looked at each other. “You feel that?” Darrell asked. “Yeah.” Dominic said. Imani and Jeffrey also stopped. “What’s wrong?” Imani asked. Dominic and Darrell walked outside their front door and started looking around their front yard. “You guys wanna tell us what’s going on?” Jeffrey asked. “We felt something.” Dominic said. The telepathic duo were still looking around and Dominic had a worried look on his face. Imani looked out at the front gate and scoffed. “Was this the thing that you guys felt?” Imani asked pointing at the front gate. The duo looked over at the front gate and found a delivery guy with their pizzas standing behind the gate. “Oh.” they both said. Darrell walked over to the gate and Dominic said, “Don’t forget to erase our address from his mind. We can’t let anybody have our address.” “I know, I know.” Darrell said as he approached the front gate. “Hey good evening.” Darrell said to the delivery guy. “Hey, how are you?” he responded. Darrell got out his wallet and gave him a few $20 bills. “Keep the change.” Darrell said as he was giving the delivery guy money. “Thanks,” the delivery guy responded as he gave Darrell the pizzas. “You have a nice night.” “You too.” Darrell said. As the delivery guy was walking away, he stopped in his tracks as he felt someone in his head. “You will forget that you came here today,” Darrell said in his head. “Once you get back to your job, you will take our address out of the system and never speak about this delivery run to anyone cause you won’t remember this.” The delivery guy shook his head and headed back into his car and drove off. The quartet walked back inside with their pizzas and headed straight for the kitchen. “Well, that was odd.” Dominic said as he took a slice of pizza out of a box. “Very odd.” Darrell said. Everybody got a slice of a pizza and started eating. “How is it odd for you two?” Jeffrey asked. “Well, what we felt was something unusual,” Darrell said. “Not so much normal like the delivery guy.” “He’s right,” Dominic said. “But as soon as we went outside, it went away like in an instant. Secondly, CT would’ve told us when somebody was at the door.” “You right,” Imani said as she took a bite of her pizza. “CT?” No answer. “CT?” Imani said again. “Another odd thing going on.” Dominic said. “It’s probably nothing.” Jeffrey said. “I’ll go check on it.” Imani said as she walked out. Dominic looked at Jeffrey and Jeffrey said, “No, don’t say nothing Dom.” “What, I ain’t say nothing.” he responded as he threw his arms in the air. “You were about to, I can see it your face.” Jeffrey said. “Alright, shut up before you idiots take it even further,” Darrell said. “Let’s just have this nice little pizza night and not talk about any superhero business. Deal?” “Yeah.” Jeffrey and Dominic said with a sigh.

Imani was down in the Core Room and pulled up the schematics of CT. She looked closely at the details and tried to find something wrong with it. She zoomed in closely looking at the details to find some more stuff but couldn’t find nothing. “Hmm.” she said. She stared at the schematics again. Staring down every single minor detail as she was getting frustrated not finding a solution to the problem. “Alright, it’s probably just something minor. Just leave it alone for a few minutes.” She started walking around the Core Room looking up at the ceiling. She looked down for a few seconds at the control panel and saw a flashing red light. “That’s bad.” She pressed the flashing red light and a news report came up on screen. The news report saw burning buildings up in Newfoundland and Labrador with also people who were trapped inside. “Oh no.” she said. She pressed a button on the control panel and reached out to her teammates in the kitchen over an intercom. “Guys, I need you down in the Core Room now.” Imani said. All of the guys stopped eating their pizza and looked at each other. “Hopefully, noting ain’t wrong.” Dominic said. They quickly walked to the elevator and took it down to the Base. As they arrived at the Base, they rushed to Core Room to find the news report that Imani was watching playing on their big computer screen. “Oh God.” Jeffrey said. “How did this happen?” Darrell asked. “The news said a gas leak,” Imani said. “They’re still working on how it originated but the gas leak spread out quickly to these other four buildings and immediately combusted.” “Ok, where is this at?” Dominic asked. “Canada,” Imani said. “Where we were just at.” “Were you able to get CT back up?” Jeffrey asked. “No, I couldn’t find anything.” Imani said. “Guess we’re on our own.” Darrell said. “And we’ll be alright,” Dominic said. “Everybody suit up quickly.” They quickly walked out and as they were walking out, Dominic said, “Jeff, I was right. And you were wrong. I want my $100 when were done with this mission. Cash.”


	10. Chapter 10

The Vanguard, dressed in their all black uniforms, ran to their jet and were getting ready to blast off to save the day. “Can we get CT working on the jet?” Dominic asked. Jeffrey pressed a few buttons on the dashboard and said, “Negative.” “Ok, I’ll try to find a way to bring him back online while we are on our way to Canada,” Imani said as she got out a laptop. “Dominic, could you give me hand? I might need your expertise.” “Yeah.” Dominic responded. Everybody sat in their seats ready for takeoff. “Alright everyone, hang on.” Jeffrey said as he got the jet ready. The doors to the hangar opened up in front of them and the jet started moving forward slowly picking up speed. A few seconds later, the jet was out of the hangar and the heroes jetted off to their destination.

Sometime later, almost to their destination, Imani and Dominic were still working on how to bring CT back online. “By the looks of it, something appears to be interfering with CT.” Dominic said. “Yeah, but what is it that’s interfering it?” Imani asked. Dominic started typing on the laptop and said, “It’s not something on the inside, it’s something on the outside,” Dominic said. “We can’t find anything in our system that’s stopping CT, so it has to be something on the outside.” “I don’t know what it could be,” Imani said. “Nothing should be able to stop CT from working. Not even anything from the…” She stopped talking for a few seconds and got out of her seat and walked up to the dashboard. “What’s up.” Jeffrey said. Imani pressed a button and live footage of their house popped up on their interactive screen. “What’s wrong with our house?” Darrell asked. “The reason why CT isn’t working is because something from the outside is interfering with him.” Imani said. Dominic also walked up to the dashboard and said, “So we’re trying to see if we can find what’s causing by checking the surroundings of our house.” Different angles of the house showed up on screen. Imani said, “The front gate!” Imani exclaimed. She zoomed in on the picture and saw a strange device on their fence. “There.” she pointed. “What is that?” Darrell asked. “I don’t know,” Imani asked. “But who placed it there is the main question.” Jeffrey and Dominic gave each other a look. “Somebody was probably at our house.” Dominic said. “What if it was the pizza guy?” Jeffrey asked. “It’s not,” Darrell said. “While I was erasing his mind, I didn’t sense any malicious intent.” “Somebody could be spying on us.” Imani said. “Can’t be,” Dominic said. “My uncle said while our home was being built, that it would be hidden from everyone. Nobody will know our addresses except for us and for whoever we want to tell. Even if we were in contact with telepaths, I made sure to lock that part of information in our minds so nobody won’t find out.” Everybody looked at each other with a concerned look on their faces. “This is all just assumption for right now,” Dominic said. “We don’t know what could be out there.” Jeffrey looked out the window in front of him and his eyes got wide. “Guys, you might wanna look at this.” he said. Everybody turned around and looked out the window and everybody eyes got wide like Jeffrey did. “Oh no.” Darrell said. Their stunned faces looked out the window and saw the burning buildings they saw on the newscast except they were burning even more from before. “This is worse than what we originally saw.” Imani said. “Jeffrey speed it up.” Dominic said. The jet accelerated to get a closer look at destruction happening. They stared at it for a few more seconds and Jeffrey landed the jet away from the destruction. 

Everybody ran out the jet and Darrell asked, “What do we do Stealth?” Dominic quickly turned to Jeffrey and walked up to him and said, “I’m gonna need you to do something you never done before. And it’s gonna be something out of your comfort zone.” “Yeah.” Jeffrey said nervously. “I need you to absorbed all the fire from all of those buildings,” Dominic said. “All at once.” Stealth,” Jeffrey said. “Dom, I ain’t never did nothing like that before. Not in this type of magnitude.” “I know I’m asking for a lot right now but I think it’s the only way we can try to stop this.” Dominic said. They heard the buildings getting ready to fall apart. They turned around and saw a person falling from the buildings. Darrell quickly flew up to the person falling and caught her. “Are you okay?” Darrell asked. “Yes, thank you!” she said with her body shaking. Darrell flew her down to safety. “Stealth, we need to hurry,” Darrell yelled out. “I don’t think these buildings are gonna last for much longer.” The team heard a loud rumble and saw part of the building coming apart. Dominic flew up in the sky until he got to a certain height and hovered in the sky. He threw out his arms and used his powers to try to hold the buildings up from crumbling. “Kinetic, how many people we gotta save?” Dominic asked. “Dozens.” Darrell asked. Jeffrey grabbed Imani and they flew up to where Dominic and Darrell were and Dominic said, “Ain’t no telling how much longer I can keep this up. But Kinetic and Diamond, I need you to go to these buildings and rescue these people.” Dominic groaned out in pain as he was trying to keep focus. “I’m gonna be out here trying to buy you guys time,” he said. “Get inside and get those people out.” Imani turned into her diamond form said, “Let’s go Kinetic.” “Everybody got their communicators?” Darrell asked. “Yeah.” everybody responded. Darrell grabbed Imani from Jeffrey and they both flew into one of the buildings to rescue the civilians from the burning buildings. Jeffrey looked at Dominic and Dominic said, “You got this.” Jeffrey nodded his head and he flew in between the buildings and started his process of absorbing the fire.

As Imani and Darrell flew inside one of the buildings, Darrell scanned the entire building and said, “There’s at least a few people on every floor,” Darrell said. “I’ll take the top half you’ll take the bottom half.” “Sounds good to me.” Imani said. They both split up and Imani was busting through the rubble of the burning building. She heard the screams of frightened citizens and quickly ran to their aid. She found a family trapped in a corner and one of the family members yelled out, “Help us please!” Suddenly, part of the ceiling above them collapsed but Imani lunged over just in the time to protect the family from the damage. “Ok, listen to me,” Imani shouted. “I’m gonna need to you guys to stay close and follow me! We’re gonna make it out of here ok?” The family quickly got up and followed right behind Imani. Dodging through the rubble and avoiding the fires, Imani and the family tried to hurry their way to the next floor. The family heard screams coming from below them and one of them said, “There’s some more people below us!” “Let’s go!” Imani shouted. They ran for an exit until the rubble came crashing down blocking their way. “Stand back!” Imani exclaimed. She took a step back and ran through the rubble making an exit for all of them. The family followed right behind her to get to the next floor. A few floors above them, Darrell was with a dozen people that he rescued and kept everybody close together with his powers. He used his telepathic powers to scan for more people above them. “We got a few more people above us,” Darrell said. “Are you guys okay?” “We’re okay.” one of them said. The floor started rumbling under them until it collapsed and sent of the civilians falling. Darrell used his power to stop them falling and safely floated them back to safety. “It’s alright, I got you all.” he said. They continued running upstairs. Saving more and more civilians that need saving. Running behind Darrell with frightened faces and uncertainty thinking they might all die in the burning building. As Darrell rescued his half of the civilians, he got on his communicator and asked, “Imani, how you’re doing?” “I’m doing fine,” she responded. “I’m almost done here.” “Once you get out, I’m gonna send you my half to you,” Darrell said. “Get them to a safe spot and I’ll get a head start on the next one.” “Send ‘em to me,” Imani said. “I’m outside now.” Darrell was on the roof with the rescued civilians and told them, “Ok guys, I’m gonna need you to trust me on this one. I’m going to telekinetically lift you guys down to the ground. It’ll be perfectly fine.” Some of the civilians got scared and Darrell said, “It’s okay. I’ll be with you. Everybody hold hands.” The civilians looked at each other and they all did as Darrell said. Darrell slowly reached out his arm to them and used his powers to slowly lift them down to the ground. While doing that, he communicated with them telepathically. “Just close your eyes and take your fears away,” Darrell said. “You’ll be on ground before you know it.” A few seconds later, all the civilians were on the ground and saw Imani with the other civilians. “There you go.” Darrell said telepathically to the group he was with. “Come on!” Imani shouted as she ran to safe place. The civilians followed right behind her to safety.

Dominic, with his nose bleeding like a waterfall, was still struggling to keep the buildings from falling apart. “Good God, this is probably just as hard as holding up the Helicarrier,” he said to himself while groaning pain. “SkyBlaze, how are you doing?” “I’m doing ok,” Jeffrey said on his communicator. “I’ve never absorbed this much fire before. That’s why it’s taking so long.” “You’re fine just keep doing what you doing.” Dominic said. “Diamond. Kinetic. Report.” “One building is free of civilians,” Imani said. “We’re working on the next one.” “Stealth, how are you holding up?” Darrell asked. “I’ll be okay,” Dominic said. “AHH!!” “No you’re not,” Imani said. “I can tell you’re not doing so well up there. Boys, we gotta hurry this up. We’re not sure how long Dominic can last up there.” “Alright,” Jeffrey said. “I’ll see if I can go a bit faster.” 

Imani ran straight inside to the next burning building at full speed. She looked around and found more civilians trapped. Breaking through the rubble and walking through the burning flames with no damage to her diamond skin, she rescued the civilians and picked up a couple of them to carry since they were injured. “Stay close with me ok?” she said. She and the other civilians ran out the burning building and led them to a safe place. “Thank you.” they all said to Imani. She ran back inside to look for more civilians but couldn’t find any. “Darrell,” she said on her communicator. “How many people we got in this building?” “I’m trying to get a reading on all of them but I can’t get them all,” Darrell said. “Something’s wrong.” Darrell concentrated more on his telepathic powers to find more of the civilians. While trying to find them, he realized something was up. “Guys, something’s wrong.” Darrell said. “What is it?” Imani said. “Say it quick, cause I think I’m running out of time.” Dominic said. Darrell started looking around and concentrated even more on his telepathic powers. “This isn’t real.” Darrell said. Imani stopped in her tracks and said, “What?” “Somebody’s tricking us,” Darrell said. “I feel it!” He used his telepathic powers to free his teammates from the false images they were having. The images of the burning buildings they were seeing turned into stable normal buildings with noticeable damages made. The heroes looked at the buildings in shock. Surprised to see what they were doing was fake. “Oh God.” Imani said as she turned back to her regular form. Jeffrey slowly floated down and turned back into his regular form as well. Dominic stopped using his powers and slowly closed his eyes. He dropped to his knees on his force field and the force field cease as he fainted. His teammates watched him fall helplessly from the sky. “DOM!!!” they all screamed. Imani quickly turned into her diamond form and she ran a few feet and jumped as high as she could catching Dominic and safely landed on the ground with him in her arms. Darrell and Jeffrey came running to the two checking to see if Dominic was okay. “Is he alright?” Darrell asked. “He’s okay,” Imani said. “He’s just a little winded.” Dominic slowly opened his eyes and said, “I’m good. Just a waste of power for nothing.” “Uh guys,” Jeffrey said nervously. “We might wanna take a look around us. Dominic and Imani slowly got up and all of them looked around shocked and confused. They see civilians staring at them in disgust and fear. They turned around and looked at the buildings that they thought were burning and saw that two of them had significant damage that they made. “Oh we messed up bad.” Jeffrey sad. “You did this!” a civilian screamed out. “They destroyed our buildings!!” another civilian yelled out. “No,” Imani said. “We didn’t mean to do this.” “We can help you fix this, we promise.” Darrell said. The civilians got even more angrier as they heard the excuses from the heroes. The heroes looked at each other with worry. Thinking how they can fix this. “As you can see here Vanguard, this is just the first step.” a random voice said. “What was that?” Jeffrey asked as he looked around. “Somebody’s in our head.” Dominic said looking around as well. “Indeed I am,” the voice said again. “But why don’t you come find out who I… I’m sorry. Who we actually are and you can see who you’re up against.” “Is this a threat?” Darrell asked as he looked at Dominic. “Oh no Kinetic,” the voice said. “Or may I call you Darrell? This is just an introduction. Of course, if you all are too afraid, I’ll just have to keep messing with you guys’ head. You see, what you all see before you is just a taste of what I can do. Meet us at this location here and we can go from here.” They all looked at each other and then looked at the angry citizens screaming at them. “What do we do about them?” Jeffrey asked. “We’ll worry about them later,” Dominic said. “Looks like we got other things to handle. Let’s get out of here.” Dominic turned himself and his teammates invisible so they can escape from the angry crowd. They got in their jet and flew off to their next destination.


	11. Chapter 11

As they flew off to their next destination, everybody on the jet had a slight troublesome look on their faces from what happened earlier. Not only was that going on in their heads, they were also thinking about what they were heading into next. “Could you guys get anymore information on that person inside our heads?” Imani asked. “No.” Dominic and Darrell said. “We’re still trying to figure it out.” Dominic said. “And we can’t get anything,” Darrell said. “Not even with our combined telepathic efforts.” “We’ll just have to wait and see,” Dominic said. “Blaze, how far out are we?” “Less than five minutes out.” Jeffrey said. A sudden abrupt beeping sound was heard in the jet. The heroes looked at each other confused. The beeping stopped. “Good evening, everyone.” CT said. “CT!” they all exclaimed. “Thank God, you’re back.” Jeffrey said. “Wait, how did you come back,” Imani asked. “I thought we would have to wait to get you back.” “Well, the device that disabled me was not permanent,” CT said. “It only disabled me for a certain amount of time. Apologies for not being available earlier to help you all out.” “It’s all good CT,” Darrell said. “We’re just glad you’re here now.” “As they always say better late than never.” Imani said. “Guys,” Jeffrey said. “I think we’re here.” Everybody got out of their seats and walked up to the front of the jet. As they all looked, they see an outside industrial plant which is up in flames and close to exploding. “Stealth and Dom is this real?” Imani asked. “As real as it gets.” Dominic said. “And to make things worse, we got trapped workers throughout this thing.” Darrell said. “Shit.” Jeffrey said. “Then we better get to work,” Dominic said. “Blaze, get this jet away from this plant.” “Already on it.”

As soon as Jeffrey found a spot for them, Dominic said, “Keep this jet running in the air. CT, we might need you in a bit so be on standby.” “On it, Dominic.” CT said. The jet door opens and Jeffrey, in flames, was the first one flying out with Dominic and Imani coming out next in his force bubble, and Darrell gracefully flying out last. “How many workers we got?” Imani asked. “I got a dozen and all of them are spread out.” Darrell said. “Same here.” Dominic said. “What about the guy who was in our heads earlier,” Jeffrey asked. “He said that he wasn’t alone.” “We can’t worry about that now,” Dominic said. “We gotta get these workers out of here first.” They all arrived at the industrial plant and looked around the plant. “This looks like a maze.” Imani said. “Like Kinetic said, the workers are spread out so we need to split up and find them.” Dominic said. A sudden explosion happened near them and Dominic put up a force field to protect them from it. “We need to make it fast,” Dominic said. “Kinetic and I will keep a telepathic link between us and use our powers to find the workers and we’ll give you info on where they’re at. Go!” 

Everybody went their separate ways to find the trapped workers. Dominic quickly found the first trapped workers. He heard their screams for help in his head and saw that they were trapped under rubble. Dominic used his powers to telekinetically moved the rubble from above them to free them. He ran up to them and asked,” Are you guys okay?” They frightenedly nodded their heads yes as they were too stunned to talk. “Are y’all hurt?” Dominic asked. They nodded their heads again but said no. “Where’s the exit from this place?” Dominic asked. “It’s north from here but I think it might be blocked,” one of the workers said. “Which is why we all got spread out to find exits.” “Okay,” Dominic said nodding his head. “I’m gonna get y’all out of here alright?” Dominic ran closer to them and made a bubble around him and the workers and they all flew out of the industrial plant to a safe place far away. “Y’all should be okay here,” Dominic said. “Go ahead and get out of here.” The workers ran away and Dominic flew back to the industrial plant. “Vanguard,” Dominic said to them telepathically. “Don’t know if you know but the exit to the plant is blocked off. Once you rescue them, let me know and I’ll fly them out of here safely.” “Since you said that, I got you some.” Imani said. “On my way.” Dominic said. Dominic quickly flew to her place and got the workers and flew them out of there. “Find some more if you can!” Dominic yelled out to her while flying away. Imani quickly ran off looking for more workers. Jeffrey was still flying around the industrial plant looking for the workers. As he kept looking around, Darrell communicated with him telepathically and said, “Look down to your right. 3 o’clock.” Jeffrey did as he said and he saw a crowd of workers surrounded by a ring of fire. He quickly flew down to that spot and absorbed the fire surrounding the workers into his body giving him a brighter flame. He quickly flamed off and landed on the ground. “Are you guys okay?” Jeffrey asked. “Yes, we’re okay.” one of the workers said. Jeffrey nodded his head and got in contact with Dominic, “Stealth, I…” “Already on my way,” Dominic said. “How’s everybody else looking?” “I’m searching for some more now.” Imani said. “I got a bunch,” Darrell said. “But I’ll get this group out of here myself. Make this end a little bit quicker.” “Do what you need to do.” Dominic said back. Darrell turned around and looked at the workers said, “Brace yourselves cause you might be scared once I do this.” The workers looked at each other confused about what he was talking about. Darrell slowly lifted them and himself off the ground and a few of the workers gasped in fear on what was happening. Darrell flew them away from the industrial plant and got them to a safe place away from the chaos. “Go!” Darrell said. The workers ran away and Darrell flew back to the industrial plant to finish the mission. “Stealth, did you get Diamond’s group?” Darrell asked telepathically. “Just dropped them off somewhere safe.” Dominic responded. “Good, cause I’m not sensing anymore.” Darrell said. “I was about to say the same thing to you.” Dominic said. The telepathic duo unknowingly flew into each other and surprised themselves. “Nice.” Darrell said as he nodded his head. “Vanguard,” Dominic said on his communicator. “Great job. We got everybody out of there safely. Now we need to find this man and his people.”

Darrell and Dominic flew back down to their other teammates and they all paused and looked at each other. They walked around looking for this strange man and his group. The heroes searched all around themselves and even walked slow as snails bracing themselves for any surprises. “Stealth and Kinetic, could you find them?” Jeffrey asked. “We can’t,” Darrell said. “He’s cloaking us from them. Which is making us harder for me and Stealth to track them.” “So keep your guard up,” Dominic said. “Ain’t no telling what’s gonna pop out at us.” “We’ve already been thrown a curveball today, so what else could happen?” Imani asked. The heroes continued walking around the industrial plant until a booming voice yelled out, “VANGUARD!” The Vanguard quickly faced their backs to each other and looked around to see where that booming voice was coming from. Imani looked up and saw four individuals high up on top of a pipe. “Boys.” Imani said. The boys turned around and look in the same direction that Imani was looking at. The four individuals were none other than the Alpha Clan. Nolan was wearing a dark navy blue and white suit. Jacinto was wearing a two toned brown suit. Zanthos was wearing a long dark red trench coat and a black bodysuit. Na-ri was wearing her same suit from earlier when she infiltrated the Vanguard’s home. “So great to finally meet you all in person.” Nolan said. “So that was you in our head?” Jeffrey asked. “You can thank Zanthos.” Nolan said pointing at him. Zanthos waved down at the heroes. “Stealth and Kinetic, I would be afraid of this guy right here,” Nolan said. “He’s actually a pretty powerful telepath. Now this young lady. We call her Velocity. She infiltrated your home.” All of their faces turned to complete shock. “Nobody was supposed to know where we live.” Dominic said. “I found a way around that,” Na-ri said with a slight chuckle. “While you guys were trying to infiltrate our base, and failed miserably, I put a tracking device on your jet without you all knowing. Which led me to your home and to put your little A.I. to sleep for a bit.” “Now this man here,” he said while pointing at Jacinto. “This is Stone.” Jacinto waved down at the heroes as well. “I believe you guys don’t wanna mess with him either. Lastly, I am Living Electric. You can thank me because this was all my idea. In conclusion, we’re the Alpha Clan. And you don’t want to mess with me or any of us.” “Apparently, you underestimate us.” Dominic said. “They must not know what we’re about.” Imani said. “Oh we know,” Jacinto said. “We very much know what we’re dealing with.” “What you guys don’t know is that we can beat you guys here right now.” Nolan said. “Would love to see you try.” Jeffrey said as he took a couple steps forward. His teammates followed up right behind him. “Electric, looks like their ready for a fight.” Zanthos said. “It appears so.” Nolan said. Dominic’s hands slowly lit up. “The telepath is mine.” he said. 

He quickly made a force disc under him and flew up to the Alpha Clan’s position until Zanthos quickly attacked him immediately knocking Dominic out. The Vanguard watches their teammate fall from the sky as the Alpha Clan smiled. “DOMINIC!!” the Vanguard screamed. Jeffrey immediately turned his body aflame and flew in the air to catch Dominic. As he successfully did it, he flew him away from the Alpha Clan to try find a safe place for him to recover. Imani was getting ready to turn into her diamond form and Darrell started to slightly hover off the ground but Na-ri swiftly ran down to their position and punched them both in less than a second. The punch from Na-ri left them both falling to ground. Darrell quickly got up and used his powers to telekinetically throw the remaining villains off the pipe and separate them from each other to throw them off. Darrell flew off looking for the villains while Imani turned into her diamond form and ran as fast as she could. Jeffrey was still trying to wake up Dominic as he was still knocked out from Zanthos’ surprise attack. “Come on Dom, we need you.” he said. “Looks like he’s out for the time being.” Na-ri said. Jeffrey rapidly turned around and saw Na-ri staring them down. Jeffrey lit up his hands and threw a fireball at her but she dodged it. His eyes got big at how fast she was able to quickly dodge it. He tried a different attack by creating a fire column underneath her but she was still able to dodge it. “Shit!” Jeffrey said. He quickly turned into his fiery form and flew over to grab Na-ri but she again dodged him and Jeffrey flew head first into a wall tumbling straight to the ground. He was slow to get back up but Na-ri ran to his position and gave him a few quick punches before she gave one final blow to him knocking him out. Darrell was still flying around looking for the villains. Darrell felt something unusual in his head and he turned around and was hit by a giant rock. The rock sent him crashing down to the ground but at the last second he saved himself from the fall using his telekinesis. He stood back up and saw Jacinto running towards him but Darrell used his powers and forcefully pushed him back against a pipe and pinned him to it. He then hovered quickly to Jacinto and got in his face. “What the hell do you guys want from us?” Darrell asked aggressively. “Easy,” Jacinto said laughing. “To see you all fall.” Darrell turned around and saw Zanthos behind. Darrell tried to attack him but he was too slow and Zanthos used his telepathic powers to knock out Darrell. With him being knocked out, his powers ceased and Jacinto was free from Darrell’s control. “That was easy.” Jacinto said. “Now all we have is one more.” Zanthos said as they both walked away. Imani was battling Nolan and Nolan threw out his arms at Imani releasing volts of endless electricity. Luckily for Imani, her diamond skin was able to resist the electricity. “You gonna have to come a little bit harder than this.” Imani said. “Beloved, I was just holding back.” Nolan said. He then threw down lightning strikes on Imani but she was able to dodge them. He then threw down one last powerful lightning strike and caught Imani hurling her back several feet. She slowly got up coughing and saw Nolan preparing another attack. As lightning came out from his body straight to her, she released a powerful thunderclap that ceased the lightning and sent Nolan flying back far away. “Boys, how are you doing?” Imani asked on her communicator. No answer. “Guys?” she asked concerned. No answer again. “CT, can you reach the others?” “Unfortunately, I cannot,” CT responded. “They seem to not be answering their comms.” “Oh God.” Imani said. She quickly ran off to find her teammates. She first saw Darrell knocked out and quickly ran to him. She checked his pulse and said, “Oh thank you God. He’s just out.” She picked him up and she said, “CT, I need you bring the jet over here fast. Now!” “On the way, Imani.” CT said. She jumped up in the air to look for Dominic and Jeffrey. After a few jumps, she finally found them and jumped to their position. She tried to carry Dominic and Jeffrey on her back but she was having a bit of trouble. “I know I can carry all of you guys but I don’t know if I can carry three people at once.” she said to herself. A minute later, CT came with the jet to rescue the Vanguard. “Good timing.” Imani said. Suddenly, the ground started shaking. Imani, still carrying her three teammates, started to lose her balance but she quickly regained it. She turned around and saw the Alpha Clan slowly walking up to her. CT, still in control of the jet, attacked the Alpha Clan using the weapons in the jet. The ground stopped shaking and Imani, as quickly as she could, ran to the jet. Imani turned around and saw Nolan getting ready to attack the jet. “CT SHIELD!” she screamed out. Nolan attacks the jet letting out a continuous blast of electric energy but CT quickly put up a shield to protect the jet from taking any damage. Imani made it to the jet with her unconscious teammates and laid them all in the small medical lab of the jet. Imani took control of the jet and flew the entire Vanguard team away from the industrial plant. “Don’t worry,” Nolan said. “We’ll be back for them. Let’s get out of here before this plant takes us down with it.” Jacinto pulled a piece of the earth from underneath them and sent the villains off to their home. 

Imani looked back at the industrial plant and saw it explode right before her eyes. She took a deep sigh of relief thinking about how she and her teammates were able to get out of there safely. “Autopilot.” she said as she got up and turned back into her regular form. “Autopilot is now on.” CT said. She briskly walked to the medical lab to check on her teammates as they were still unconscious. She closely examined each one of them to find any physical injuries. “CT, can you check for any internal injuries please?” Imani asked. “Yes, Imani.” CT responded. CT scanned their bodies down to check for any internal injuries they had. “No internal injuries on all three of them,” CT said. “They’re just all in a state of unconsciousness.” “Ok good.” Imani said. She grabbed some materials from a cabinet nearby and started creating an antidote to wake them from their unconscious state. In less than a minute, she completed creating the antidote. She got out a paper towel and spilled the liquid antidote on it. “This should probably do it.” she said to herself. She tried it first on Darrell by putting the paper towel under his nose and in an instant, he woke up gasping from air. It took him a few seconds to catch his breath. “Where am I?” Darrell asked. “The jet.” Imani said as she tried to wake Jeffrey up. “What happened to…” Darrell said. “Oh God!!” Jeffrey yelled out as he woke up and gasping for air. “Hey, it’s okay,” Imani said as she put her hand on his back. “You’re alright. You just got knocked out.” She did the same thing to Dominic but she was having a little bit of trouble with him. “Come on, it worked on the other two, why won’t you work with him?” Imani asked herself. “That white hair guy must’ve got to him pretty hard,” Darrell said. “I felt his power and it was strong. And I mean strong.” “Don’t worry, I think I got something else to make this a bit stronger.” Imani said. She got out something out of the cabinet and poured it on the paper towel. “This should work.” Imani said. She tried again with Dominic. He woke up in an instant and he was gasping for air. “Ah my head.” he said while catching his breath. Imani got rid of the paper towel and said, “Good, it worked.” “What did you do?” Jeffrey asked. “I created something small that closed up your nostrils so it forced you to breathe from your mouth leading to you guys waking up,” Imani said. “Also, you might not be able to breathe out of your noses for a few minutes. “Great, now we gotta be mouth breathers.” Darrell said. “Where are they?” Dominic asked. Imani sighed and said, “I don’t know. They got to all of you and it was either go after them and leave you guys behind in the explosion or get you guys somewhere safe.” “You did the right thing,” Dominic said. “We’ll get them.” “But when is the question.” Jeffrey said. “Not now,” Darrell said. “We need a plan.” “He’s right,” Dominic said. “We need to regroup when we get back home and regain our full strength.” “Everybody,” CT said. “You need to come to the front and see this.” They looked at each other and went to the front of the jet. CT pulled up a live video of a news report from Canada. “We have just received reports of an explosion coming from the Industrial Plant of NL,” the reporter said. “We have several witnesses from the plant saying that the American superhero team, The Vanguard, was the cause of this explosion.” “That’s a goddamn lie!” Jeffrey exclaimed. “The Vanguard came unexpectedly,” one of the workers said in the news report. “From there on, they just started destroying the plant. No reason why but it was like they were going crazy. Thankfully, we were able to get out in time thanks to another group of superheroes.” “The witness did not give away the identities of the heroes that rescued them but the Newfoundland and Labrador police department is now putting out an arrest warrant on The Vanguard.” the news reporter said. “Turn it off.” Dominic said. The news report stopped playing and disappeared from the screen. Darrell sat down and he immediately slumped in his seat. “Wow.” he said. “Dom, what do we do now?” Imani asked as she turned and looked at him. Dominic looked at his team and humped his shoulders. “Right now, nothing,” he said. “We’re fucked.”


	12. Chapter 12

The Vanguard arrived back at their home shortly after their mission. Jeffrey landed the jet inside the hangar bay and said, “CT, put our home in lockdown 4b.” “Yessir, Jeffrey.” CT said. There were five loud but short beeps heard around their home. Outside of their home, weapons started appearing out from the side of their house, in their backyard, their front lawn, the roof, and other places near their home. “Lockdown 4b activated.” CT said. “Thank you CT.” Dominic said depressingly. They all walked out of their jet very sluggishly. They had defeated looks on their faces as they thought about their failed mission. All of them went inside the closet in the Base and they all changed out of their suits and changed into their regular clothes. After they did that, they went inside the elevator and Darrell said, “Living quarters.” “Taking you to the living quarters.” CT said. As they rode the elevator to their living quarters, the ride on the elevator for them was very grim and quiet. Several seconds later, they arrived in their living quarters. All four of them walked sluggishly to their rooms and softly closed their doors. They climbed slowly in their beds and just laid there. Thinking about what just happened to them. How embarrassed they were. How miserably they failed going up against the Alpha Clan. How will they move on from this tragedy for them? Darrell pulled the covers over him and he screamed. Imani closed her blinds and sat there blindly in the dark. Jeffrey sat up in his bed and stared blankly at the wall. Dominic sat on the side of his bed and put his hands on face and fell back. “Fuck.” he said softly. A few minutes later, all of them climbed under their covers and fell asleep instantly to make themselves feel better.

In the middle of the night, Darrell was sound asleep. He then started tossing and turning in his bed. Heavily breathing. Grunting. “No,” he said softly. “No. No. No.” Suddenly, his room started shaking. “No, I didn’t mean to.” Darrell said. Objects from his room started falling and crashing on the ground. He started breathing even heavier. “Stop!” he silently exclaimed. Dominic, in his room, was sleep. He then immediately opened his eyes and sat up in his bed. “Darrell.” he said to himself. Dominic could feel something wasn’t right with him. Dominic got out of his bed and ran to Darrell’s room. As he got closer to it, he felt his room shaking. “Oh God.” he said again to himself. He arrived at Darrell’s door and quickly barged in. Dominic ran to Darrell’s side and he tried to wake him up from his nightmare. “Darrell, wake up!” Dominic shouted. He used his telepathic powers to wake him up but it wasn’t working. “Why isn’t this working like before?” he asked himself. Dominic tried again but with a more powerful attack to wake him up. “Darrell, listen to my voice.” he said as he pressed his forehead against his. Dominic was struggling to get control of his mind but a few seconds later, Darrell screamed. “Come on Darrell, wake up!” Dominic shouted. Darrell immediately opened his eyes and sat up. He was gasping for air for a few seconds until he looked at Dominic. “What’s wrong?” Dominic asked him. Darrell immediately started crying and Dominic gave him a hug to comfort him. Jeffrey and Imani came running inside Darrell’s room and asked, “What happened?” “Head down to the med facility.” Dominic said. Both of them scurried to the lab while Dominic tried to help Darrell on his feet. “It’s okay D,” Dominic said as they started walking. “I’m here. We’re all here. As we always are. Everytime.”

Few minutes later, everyone was in the medical facility in their pajamas. Darrell was laid out on a hospital bed with Dominic right above scanning his mind to see if anything was wrong. “I’m sorry,” Darrell said sniffling. “Didn’t mean to wake you all up.” “It’s perfectly fine.” Imani said. “We’re just glad you’re okay,” Jeffrey said. “Or is he?” “He is now,” Dominic said as he got through scanning Darrell’s mind. “I know you had nightmares before and you haven’t had one in a long time but nothing like this.” Darrell sat up and he said, “Thanks Dom.” “Was it the same nightmare?” Imani asked. “Yeah, of me and my brother,” Darrell said with a sigh. “ Except this time it was something more. Like something was added. Usually it was just me when I… you know. But this time it was like he came back. Haunting and torturing me. Saying ‘You’re finally gonna get what you deserve.’ Or something like that.” “And I know why,” Dominic said. “When that guy knocked us out, he triggered something in our minds to relive out most fearful moments. Luckily he didn’t get to you Imani. I was able to get out of my head while walking down here.” Dominic walked up to Jeffrey and placed his hands on Jeffrey’s head. “And now I’m gonna erase it from your memory.” Dominic said. It only took Dominic a few seconds to do it and Jeffrey said, “Thanks.” “Now when it was going to activate in our minds, that I don’t know,” Dominic said. “Maybe the next time when we meet up with them or something. I don’t know. But I’m glad that we got this out the way.” Imani walked over to Darrell and rubbed his shoulder and asked, “You sure you’re okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine,” Darrell said. “It happened plenty of times before and I came out alright, so I’ll be okay. I promise.” Imani gave Darrell a hug and she said, “Alright, we need to get bed,” Imani said. “We already had a rough evening, we don’t need our rough evening going into the morning. I’ll see you boys later. I’ll cook since I haven’t did it in awhile.” Imani was the first one to walk and Jeffrey walked over to Darrell and he gave Darrell a slight bump on his chest with his fist. “We got you bro.” Jeffrey said. “Thanks.” Darrell said with a soft smile. Dominic walked up to Darrell and said, “Know that we’re always here.” Darrell nodded his head and gave Dominic a soft smile too. Jeffrey and Dominic were getting ready to walk out until they see Darrell not behind them. “You coming?” Jeffrey asked. “Yeah, I just need some time by myself for a few.” Darrell responded. “Alright then.” Jeffrey asked. Darrell watched them both walk out and as they were out the door, he immediately started crying. His hands covered his face. “Darren, I’m so sorry,” he said to himself crying. “I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.” Darrell looked up at the ceiling and asked, “Why did I do that God? Why me?” He continued crying throughout the night thinking about the horrible tragedy of losing his twin brother, Darren.


	13. Chapter 13

A few hours later in the morning, Imani was up in the kitchen making breakfast for the guys as she said. “Imani, your cooking smells delightful.” CT said. “Thanks, but how would you know what it smells like?” she asked while looking up. “It was just an expression,” CT said. “Apologies for trying to fit in and be more human like.” She softly laughs and says, “I see you got jokes.” “I learn from everyone here.” CT said. Back upstairs, Jeffrey was the first one to wake up and he got out of his bed and went inside his bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and closed his eyes while taking a deep breath. “It’s a new day.” he said softly. He turned on the water faucet and got out toothpaste and a toothbrush and started brushing his teeth. Dominic was in his bathroom splashing water on his face. He dried his face and walked to his room. He looked around and sat on his bed. He then looked out the window and started staring out of it looking at the front yard. Darrell was on the balcony meditating with himself while also having calming music playing in the background. After a few minutes, he turned off the music and grabbed his mat and walked back to his room closing his door. He walked inside his closet and started changing his clothes. While doing that, he paused. Images of last night started replaying in his head. He leaned back against the wall and took a sigh. He looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds and went back to changing his clothes. “Will never forget about you bro.” he said to himself.

Dominic was the first one to come down to kitchen and said, “Morning.” “Good morning.” Imani said back. Jeffrey and Darrell came behind Dominic and both said, “Morning.” “Hey guys.” Imani said to them. All three of the boys sat at the kitchen table and Imani came and gave everyone their plates. As she took a seat at the table, they all started eating. Every few seconds, they would look up at each other and not say anything. They were still pretty bummed out from happened to them on their last mission. They sat in silence for about five minutes until Dominic said, “Ok let’s just go ahead and talk about.” He sat his silverware on the table and took a deep breath. “We got our asses kicked last night.” he said. “No shit.” Darrell said while eating. “Darrell!” Imani said. “What we went up against was something that we were not prepared for. And I feel like that’s my fault. For the past year, we all were focused on what Chambers left behind. And I neglected, as a leader, to help us prepare for future situations. And with what I did yesterday, just blindly attacking them, led to me being out of the fight and not coming up with a plan. I also put you guys in harm’s way. But Imani, I truly thank you for saving us all. And CT as well. With that, I apologize. Apologize for not preparing y’all for these type of certain situations. For putting you guys in harm’s way leading to three quarters of the team being out during the mission. I…” “I hope you don’t do this every time we have a failed mission.” Darrell said. Imani and Jeffrey started laughing. “Are you guys seriously laughing?” Dominic asked. “We’re not laughing at you,” Jeffrey said. “We’re laughing at what Darrell said.” Dominic gave Darrell a shady look and Darrell looked back at him eating his food. “Look Dom,” Imani said. “There’s no need to apologize. We all kinda feel similar to what you’re feeling and that’s okay. And it wasn’t you that just failed. We all did. So you don’t need to put this all on you. It’s on all of us.” “Dom,” Darrell said. “I know you been on some failed missions before with the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. Did you let that get to you?” “No.” Dominic responded. “And you moved on passed it. And I know we all will. It just takes time. And with Imani said about us failing, we have all failed before. I failed. She failed. Jeffrey failed. Not every mission is gonna be 100% and this mission didn’t happen to be. So I know we’re gonna bounce back from this.” “Darrell, that’s probably the only encouraging thing that you said since you first step foot in this house.” Dominic said. “Don’t get used to it.” Darrell said back. All of them slightly laughed. “But Darrell is right,” Jeffrey said. “We’ll bounce back from this. And we’ll be ready next time the Alpha Clan comes to us.” “You’re exactly right,” Dominic said. “And we’ll be ready for them. We just need a little bit of time to come up with a plan for it all. But for right now, we need to cool off for awhile. Try to get our heads back in the right place. And after that, we can get back in the Training Room and prepare for what’s coming.” “I agree,” Imani said. “Because with them, I’m afraid they might be more powerful than us.” “I can attest to that,” Darrell said. “And Dominic can too. That one dude with the long hair… Zanthos is his name. I only had a taste of his power and this guy is powerful.” “And I hate to say this, that this guy may be as powerful as some of these telepathic mutants. Betsy. Emma. Jean. And maybe Charles.” “They’re all pretty powerful,” Jeffrey said. “That fast Asian chick. The rock guy. And lightning dude. We gotta know what they’re capable of. What their weaknesses are.” “We will,” Dominic said. “But we need to get back in that Training Room pretty soon. Cause we looked pretty helpless out there.” “On to another topic at hand,” Imani said. “Did anybody forget that we have warrant out for our arrest?” “Ah.” Jeffrey said. Everybody stopped eating and looked at each other. “So what do we do about that?” Imani asked. “D and D, can’t you guys just changed their minds?” Jeffrey asked. “Me and Darrell took a verbal and written oath saying that we will not make people’s decisions for them.” Dominic said. “We’re only gonna do that when it’s absolutely necessary,” Darrell said. “Besides, my mind is not that powerful to erase or alter a whole city’s mind. Yet.” “Alright, so what do we do about it then?” Jeffrey asked. “The thing that we can probably do is release a statement.” Dominic said. “We are not gonna release a statement from the Notes app.” Imani said. “Superheroes don’t do that.” Dominic said while looking at Imani. “Some do.” Darrell said. “Okay, maybe the c-list ones.” Dominic said. “No we’ve seen some a-list ones do it from time to time.” Jeffrey said. “It’s true,” CT said. “Some big name superheroes have released statements on the iPhone notes app.” “Alright, we’re going off the rails,” Dominic said raising his voice a little. “Now, for our statement, we will have to go up there ourselves.” “But will they believe us?” Jeffrey asked. “They ain’t got no choice but to believe us,” Dominic said. “I mean I remember the looks that we had on our faces when we were destroying those buildings. We looked like we had no souls. And after we were done, those people saw how shocked we were.” “Dominic, you don’t know what they could be thinking.” Imani said. Dominic looked at Imani and she said, “I forgot I’m talking to a powerful telepath.” “I’ll come up with a statement for us.” Darrell said. “You sure about that?” Jeffrey asked. “Yeah,” Darrell said. “I worked for the NYPD. We had to release statements damn near everyday. I can handle that.” “If you say so.” Dominic said. “Trust me Dom, I’m good.” Darrell said. “Well it, seems like we’re doing a bit better.” Imani said. “Let’s just hope it all works out for the better.” Dominic said.


	14. Chapter 14

Back in Canada, the Alpha Clan were back at their headquarters in a secluded room where they were talking about their recent successful mission. “Great work Alpha Clan,” Nolan said. “Our very first mission was a success.” “I think we have to give most of our thanks to Zanthos on this one.” Na-ri said. “No, everybody played an integral part in this mission.” Zanthos said. “I mean if it wasn’t for you Na-ri, this mission wouldn’t be a success.” Jacinto said. “Yes, but our work doesn’t stop there,” Nolan said. “But we need to move forward. Now, with the Vanguard at their lowest, this is the perfect time to hit them. Na-ri, are we able to track their next move?” “Bad news.” Na-ri said as she walked up to the large screen computer monitor and pressed a few buttons. “While we were battling the Vanguard, my device went offline when their A.I. came back online. It’s also a bad idea to go over to their home as they probably have a lockdown protocol going on right now. And with their A.I. back online, that’s more firepower for them and could over power us.” “How could that A.I. over power us,” Nolan asked. “I could possibly take it out.” “Knowing how A.I. works, the A.I. would probably take you out first and then take out Zanthos,” Na-ri said. “So it’s possible we will be defeated if we went to their territory.” “Well that just ruins our plan.” Jacinto said. “Then we improvise.” Nolan said. “How so?” Jacinto asked. Nolan turned around and faced the computer screen saying, “I don’t know.” “Well, what about if we build an A.I. here and we lead the Vanguard here,” Zanthos said. “Na-ri how long will it take to make an A.I.?” “A.I.s are very complex to build,” Na-ri said. “So it’ll take a very long time for me to build it.” “What else do we have in mind?” Jacinto asked. “Nothing for right now,” Nolan said. “But we need to come up with something. Fast. While they’re still at their lowest.” “Will do.” Zanthos said.

Nolan and Na-ri walked out of the room while Zanthos and Jacinto stayed behind. As they were walking into another room, Na-ri asked, “Nothing?” “I have nothing right now,” Nolan said. “Knowing the Vanguard, they might be able to bounce back fairly quickly. Especially with Stealth as their leader. He’s been in the hero game for a long time so there’s no telling how quick they’ll bounce back.” “Well, with the way that we left them, it’ll probably take them awhile,” Na-ri said. “I mean we hit them pretty hard and with Zanthos planting their fears in their head there’s a guarantee they won’t bounce back soon. So for right now, we probably have nothing to worry about.” They both walked into a small kitchen and both grabbed a bottle of water from a fridge. “You’re probably right,” Nolan said as he sat in a chair. “But we just have to be cautious. And this plan needs to be perfect.” “I know and it will be,” Na-ri said. “I mean look at how successfully we handled them. We already proved we’re more powerful than them. We just need to think.” They both stopped talking for a short time until Nolan thought of something and had a small smile on his face. “Another diversion.” he said. “What kind?” Na-ri asked looking at him. “Well, I’m pretty sure they figured out or will figure out that we took over this old warehouse,” Nolan said. “So, we get henchmen.” “Explain.” Na-ri said. “Well, while I try to think of a second part to this plan, we get the henchmen here in this place while we’re off doing something else. The henchmen will be well equipped with advanced weapons. That way we can try to capture them. Once they’re captured, they’ll be captured and they’ll be placed in those holding cells those workers built down below us.” “I didn’t know we had cells.” Na-ri said. “I was gonna keep it a secret but I might as well tell you and everyone else now,” Nolan said. “I need to make some updates to it. And I think I might need your help. Follow me.” 

They both left the small kitchen and took a hidden elevator down below to the cells. They arrived in an hallway full of empty metal white cells on each side. Na-ri looked around and asked, “Why so many?” “Just in case if we were to catch more of these heroes.” Nolan said. They went into a control room that controlled all the cells in the hallway and also showed live footage on a screen above the control panel. “This is what I will need help with,” Nolan said. “We need to add a few things on here. But probably the most important thing would be to make the cells cancel out the powers of the heroes.” “That way they won’t be able to escape.” Na-ri said. “Correct,” Nolan said. “Also, if they decide to escape…” Nolan pressed a button on the control panel and that closed the door on one of their cells. Na-ri looked at the screen and saw nothing happened. “What did you do?” Na-ri asked. Nolan walked out of the control room and Na-ri followed behind him. They went up to a cell and Nolan said, “All the doors are transparent glass,” Nolan said. “But what they don’t know is this.” He took a dollar out of his pocket and folded it up. After that, he threw it at the door and the door electrocuted it to a crisp. “10,000 volts of electricity running through this door,” Nolan said. “My personal touch to it.” “I like,” Na-ri said. “But the thing about cancelling the powers out, I can definitely help out with that. But we need to be quick. Luckily, we got some of the resources here.” Na-ri said. “Then let’s get started.”

Jacinto and Zanthos was still in the same room that all of them were in earlier. The duo had individual pictures of the Vanguard pulled up on their screen studying them. They also had videos playing on another part of the screen from their last battle with Christopher Chambers. “Nolan was right,” Zanthos said. “They rarely battle spread out. Look at this.” Zanthos pressed a button on the screen and it zoomed in on the four members. “See how badly they’re doing when they’re spread out?” Zanthos asked. Jacinto walked up to the screen and said, “Yeah.” Jacinto stopped to think for a minute and he said, “We just have to do it again.” “Yeah, we do,” Zanthos said. “But how?” “We do the same thing Chambers did.” Jacinto said turning around looking at Zanthos. “And you can see what happened with him right?” Zanthos said. “Yeah, but we can do better than what he did.” Jacinto responded. “We lose better than him?” Zanthos asked sarcastically. “You know what I meant.” Jacinto said. Zanthos let out a small chuckle. “But look,” Jacinto said. “I say we do what Chambers did. Lure them in a big city like we have here. And what better place to do it than the same city that they’re wanted in. That way, we have the police on our side. I mean come on.” “Alright, you might be on to something.” Zanthos said walking up to Jacinto. “I don’t have it fully planned out but it’s a start.” Jacinto said. “A good start at that,” Zanthos said. “Let’s go.” Zanthos walked out of the room leaving Jacinto confused. “Where?” he asked himself while walking out of the room following Zanthos.

Zanthos walked up to their hidden elevator and Jacinto followed up behind him and asked, “When did we get this?” “We been had this,” Zanthos said. “Nolan just wanted to keep it a secret and surprise us with it so surprise.” They both walked inside and took the elevator to the hallway full of cells. “Also, we have some cells that were built down here.” Zanthos said. “And how do you…” Jacinto said. Zanthos pointed at his head and Jacinto said, “Right.” They arrived in the hallway and they all look astounded by the look of the cells. “Wow.” Jacinto said. They walked into the control room and found Nolan and Na-ri working on the updates for the holding cells. “Ah, I see that you found us and this place.” Nolan said. “Well with me, you can’t try to hide stuff.” Zanthos said. “What are you guys doing?” Jacinto asked. “We’re just coming up with a few things for these cells.” Na-ri said. “I thought of something.” Jacinto said. “Hit us with it.” Nolan said. “Well, me and Zanthos were watching footage of the Vanguard,” Jacinto said. “And I thought about doing the same thing Chambers did. Lure them to the city. Especially in a city where they’re wanted in. If we do that, we could possibly have the police on our side.” “I think I see where you’re going with this,” Nolan said as he got up out of his chair. “What else you got?” “That’s all I have for right now,” Jacinto said. “Haven’t gotten that far with it.” “That’s ok,” Nolan said. “We can come up with something later for that. But I also thought of something to. Zanthos, you’ll play an important part in this. We could create a diversion. Here.” “How so?” Zanthos asked. “There’s a good chance that the Vanguard have figured out that we’re here or will very soon,” Nolan said. “So, we’re gonna need some henchmen in here. While we’re off doing something else bigger.” He looked at Jacinto and said, “And that’s most likely where your plan will come in Jacinto,” Nolan said. “But we need to figure out something bigger and better for this. But this is all coming together. Thanks Jacinto.” “No problem.” Jacinto responded. “We’ll head back up,” Zanthos said. “We’ll let you know if we find anything else.” Nolan nodded his head at them and they both walked off.


	15. Chapter 15

In the middle of the day, the Vanguard were in their Practice Room training to prepare for their next encounter with the Alpha Clan. They took it back to when they first fought them earlier as they thought it was the best way to prepare for them. Except, they were handling it even worse than they did the first time. “OW!” Jeffrey yelled out as he fell from the sky landing on the ground. Extinguishing his fiery flame, he was slow to get up only to find a boulder hurling at him. Jeffrey quickly dodged the boulder and quickly transformed to his fiery form. Jeffrey saw Jacinto running out of the shadows only to find him running towards the hero. Jeffrey flew towards Jacinto but the villain hurled a rock towards Jeffrey and sent him back flying against the wall. Dominic saw Jeffrey about to be knocked out by Jacinto as he was walking towards him but Dominic intervened and held up a force field on Jeffrey so he can recover. He then telekinetically swept away Jacinto to slow him down so that Dominic could get to Jeffrey. He ran over to Jeffrey as he was getting up and asked, “You alright?” “No,” Jeffrey said. “I don’t know what kind of setting you got this session on but you need to tone it down.” “Now you know I can’t do that,” Dominic said. “There ain’t no telling what they’re gonna throw at us so we need to be prepared for the worse. And you need to up your game a bit.” Dominic ran towards Jacinto to attack him and Jeffrey shook his head in disgust and flew away. Imani, in her diamond form, was getting frustrated as she was trying to attack Na-ri but Na-ri was just too fast for her. As Na-ri was dodging her attacks, Imani then tripped on her own two feet. As she got up, Na-ri ran up to her and repeatedly punched her. After a few seconds, Imani was knocked back and fell slowly to the ground. “Didn’t think she would be able to do something like that,” she said to herself. “Especially in this state.” Dominic was battling Zanthos as Dominic did his best to block Zanthos’ telepathic attacks. It was successful and the two were battling hand to hand. Unknown to Dominic, Zanthos was an excellent hand to hand combatant as both of their skills were similar to each other. Dominic tried to throw a few slick punches but Zanthos was able to block them all. Zanthos then sneaked attack Dominic by jumping behind him and punched him in the back so hard that he fell to ground. Dominic slowly getting up said to himself, “If it’s like that, then it’s like that then.” Dominic then used his powers to trip Zanthos up telekinetically. He tried to jump on his back but Zanthos was able to telepathically break through Dominic’s telepathic barrier. Dominic yelled out and grabbed his own head and fell to his knees. Darrell was attacking Nolan but it seems like Darrell was the only one having success versus his other teammates. As he was attacking Nolan, Darrell hovered in the air and started telekinetically hovering in the air. Around him, random objects started floating off the ground and circling around Darrell. He then hurled the objects at Nolan at a rapid speed. Nolan then dodged the objects and ran to a safe place to take a cover. Darrell slowly hovered over to where Nolan was and he hurled one of the objects at him. But Nolan got up from and his cover and counterattacked him by throwing it back at Darrell using his powers. Throwing Darrell off guard for a little bit, Nolan charged up his hands and threw out a continuous barrage of electricity at Darrell. Darrell rapidly threw up a telekinetic shield to block his attack. As Nolan tried to make his attack stronger, Darrell slowly hovered down to the ground to concentrate more on blocking Nolan’s attack. Nolan was not backing down as he started walking towards Darrell. Darrell did his best to push Nolan back but instead, he was sliding back. He then fell to one knee as Nolan’s attack got even stronger. Nolan got even closer and his attack got so strong that Darrell was now on both of his knees struggling to keep up his shield. Instantly, Darrell’s shield ceased and was hit by Nolan’s attack and sent him flying back to a rigid pipe and falling to the ground. Nolan slowly levitated in the air as bolts of electricity formed below him. Darrell looked up and saw him in the air brewing up a powerful attack. Darrell looked scared as he slowly tried to crawl away from Nolan. Lightning then started forming in the sky and a powerful lightning bolt hit Nolan transforming him into a completely electric being. Nolan threw one of his arms in the air and called on more lightning bolts. As he did, he started to attack Darrell and Darrell held up another telekinetic shield but the shield ceased after one attack as it was too powerful for him. Darrell’s eyes got big as he saw Nolan brewing up another attack. Darrell then saw a lightning bolt heading towards him. Before the lightning bolt got into close vicinity of him, Darrell screamed out, “CT, END THIS SESSION NOW!!” 

“Ending training session.” CT said. Immediately, everything around the Vanguard started to fade away and the Training Room was back in its normal state. All the heroes were down on the ground either on their knees or on lying on their back. Imani turned back into her regular form and started looking around. Jeffrey slowly got up and started coughing. “Goddamn it Dominic.” Jeffrey said. “What?” Dominic said. “You’re pushing us too hard too fast.” Jeffrey said. “He’s right,” Darrell said as he slowly got up from the ground. “You knew we weren’t ready for this so I don’t know why you had this session on an extreme level.” “Like I said before to Jeff, they could throw something at us unexpectedly,” Dominic said. “Just like this right here.” “And you know we’re not ready for it,” Jeffrey said as he walked up to Dominic. “Dominic, we just almost got our asses handed to. Even worse than we did when we really went up against them. Hell, you almost had us killed out here. You should’ve just started us off at a lower level.” “In battle, there ain’t no such thing such thing as starting off at a lower level,” Dominic said. “Jeffrey, those guys could probably kill us next time we go up against them. And we need to be at the top of our level. Especially you. You were a little off in that mission we had.” “Oh I was off,” Jeffrey asked while raising his voice. “Says the one who was the first person knocked out going up against them without a plan.” “Hey, I was trying to take out the telepath cause I knew with him, he would’ve gotten to all of us!” Dominic yelled out. “And look at where we ended up,” Jeffrey yelled. “Getting our asses whooped two times in a row!” Darrell then jumped in between them and said, “Hold on! Dominic, I agree with him you are pushing us too hard.” “How are you siding with him?” Dominic asked. “All of us are not at the same level as you. You gotta think sometimes that all three of us have not been superheroes as long as you have.” “Which is why we’re doing this training to help you all out!” Dominic yelled. “Dominic, that doesn’t justify it!” Darrell yelled out. Instantly, the three men were all in a heated argument. Imani watched as they argued and rolled her eyes. She then angrily walked up to the boys while transforming into her diamond form. She stopped and made a thunderous clap above her head stopping the argument and temporarily deafening the boys’ ears. The boys ears rung and they covered their ears screaming. Several seconds later, the boys’ hearing came back and they all looked at Imani. She had her hands on her hips and she said, “Hear me out. Dominic, I see where you’re coming from. You are right. The Alpha Clan could give us all they have and we have to be on top of our game in order to protect and stop themselves. So putting this session at an extreme difficulty was probably a good thing for us.” “Thank you!” Dominic exclaimed. “Imani!” Jeffrey and Darrell both yelled. “But,” Imani shouted. “Darrell and Jeffrey are also right.” “What?!” Dominic shouted. “Listen,” she said. “We are not at the same level as you and you know that’s true. Also, we have never did anything on extreme difficulty before. You were getting a little bit ahead of yourself with this training session.” “But Imani, you can’t just…” Dominic said. “Let me finish,” she said as she held up a finger to his lips. “This session was a bit out of the ordinary for us. But all three of you are right. There’s no exact way of how to go about this. Maybe we need to practice a bit more. Maybe we do need to step our game up. All of us.” The three boys then looked at each other. “This is not the time we need to be fighting,” Imani said. “We need to work together on this and be on one accord. Understand?” “Yes.” all three of the boys said. “Good, now apologize.” Imani said. Dominic looked at his teammates and scoffed. “I ain’t apologizing for what I said,” Dominic said. “You just said I was right.” “I’m not apologizing either if I’m right.” Jeffrey said. “Same here.” Darrell said. “Apologize to each other or I will permanently deafen your ears.” Imani said as she got in position ready to do another thunderous clap. “Alright!” Darrell shouted. All three of the boys looked at each other and said, “I’m sorry.” “Great,” Imani said as she turned back into her regular form. “We need to a break from this and cool down anyway. Besides I gotta get ready for this dinner tonight.”

She began to walk off and all three of her teammates asked, “Dinner?” They followed behind her exiting the Training Room and she said, “I told you all about this a couple weeks ago. It’s the yearly NYC All-Female STEM Dinner and I was invited to speak. At the Javits Center. Remember?” “I swear I don’t remember this.” Jeffrey said. “Well, now you do cause I’m telling you,” Imani said as they all walked into the elevator. “Living quarters.” “Taking you to living quarters.” CT said. “What time is it at?” Dominic said. “It’s at 6.” Imani responded. “Imani, it’s only 1 o’clock.” Darrell said. They all arrived at their living quarters and as they walked out, Imani said, “Do you know how long it takes to get these natural curls to look their best?” Imani asked as she was stroking her hair. “No, we’re not women.” all the boys said. “Well, would you like to be since you guys are following me to my room?” she asked. They froze in place as Imani continued walking to her room. “I thought so,” she said. “I’ll let you all know when I get ready to leave.” Imani walked into her room and shut her door so she could get ready for the dinner.” “Well, what do we do now?” Darrell asked. “Lay low for a bit,” Dominic responded. “Or we could go back to the Training Room for another session.” “How about we all go to the Core Room and lay low?” Jeffrey asked as he walked away. Darrell followed behind him and Dominic said to himself, “Fine. We could do that too.”

A few hours later, Dominic, Jeffrey, and Darrell were in the Core Room researching information on the Alpha Clan and looking back at their last training video. Darrell was on a separate computer doing a little project of his own. “Hey, could you guys come over here for a second.” Darrell said. Dominic and Jeffrey walked over to Darrell and looked at what was on his computer. “This must be the statement we’re gonna release?” Dominic asked. “Yessir, it is.” Darrell said. Jeffrey started reading it while mouthing the words. “It’s good so far.” Jeffrey said. “I told you guys it would be good,” Darrell said. “I had to this for a living at one point. I’ll make sure this statement gets a press release up there.” “Thanks Darrell.” Dominic said. For a few minutes, they went back to their own business until Imani walked in with a short green dress and her hair in curls. She also had on black high heels and a silver necklace while carrying a diamond clutch. Dominic slightly turned his head and saw Imani and said, “Hey Imani.” Dominic quickly turned his head around again but gave Imani his full attention. “Hey!” he said excitedly. Darrell and Jeffrey turned around and saw Imani glammed up and stared at her in awe. “Wow.” Darrell said. “Whoa!” Jeffrey said excitedly. “Thanks,” Imani said. “I’m about to head out. Call me if you boys need anything.” “Will do.” Jeffrey said. “What are you all looking at?” Imani said looking at the screen. “We’re looking at our last practice session, taking a few notes from it, and looking up some info on the Alpha Clan,” Dominic said. “Plus, Darrell is finishing up our statement.” Imani walked over to Darrell and read the statement on his computer screen. “We’re gonna release this statement as a press release tomorrow morning.” Darrell said. “Sounds good and that’s a good plan to me.” Imani said. “I’ll try not to be long at this dinner but we’ll see what happens.” “Alright, be careful.” Darrell said. “Trust me, I will.” Imani said walking out.


	16. Chapter 16

Back at the Alpha Clan’s headquarters, Nolan and Na-ri were making upgrades to the holding cells wearing protective gear and using various tools. “Na-ri, how far are you coming along on your side?” Nolan asked. “Just a couple more minutes.” Na-ri responded. After a couple minutes, they stopped and dropped their equipment to the ground. “Alright, let’s test it out.” Nolan said as he walked into a cell. Na-ri walked into the control room and saw Nolan in the cell on the large computer screen. “Nolan, you ready?” Na-ri asked. “Ready.” Nolan responded as he balled his fist with electricity generating from it. Na-ri then pressed a button on the control panel and suddenly, Nolan’s fist stopped generating electricity. He tried a few more tricks to activate his powers but nothing was working. “Okay, I think the power cancellation is working well.” Nolan said. “Alright, test out the jail cell door.” Na-ri said. He walked up to the door touching it and it electrocuted him with a few hundred volts. He screamed in pain and took a few steps back. He looked at his fingers and saw that it left a burning mark on his fingertips. “That works.” Nolan said. “Give me a couple seconds.” Na-ri said. She pressed a button on the control panel and parts of Jacinto’s body gave out small bursts of electricity. Jacinto looked at his fingers and his fingertips slowly began to heal. “Thank you for that.” Nolan said. “Nolan, could you step out for a minute?” Na-ri asked as she pressed a few buttons on the control panel. She unlocked the jail cell door and Nolan walked out of it. Na-ri pressed another button on the control panel and a white color gas started coming out of the ceiling. “And the incapacitating agent works,” Na-ri said. “And hopefully it’ll knock the person out immediately.” “Is this a knockout gas?” Nolan asked. “Indeed it is.” Na-ri responded. “What else did we install in the cells?” Nolan asked. “We have a few things right now but we need to finish installing the rest of the things we have listed here.” Na-ri asked. “And it shouldn’t take long, should it?” Nolan asked. “No,” Na-ri said. “They’re only minor things so it should take no time at all. We can be done with this today actually.” “Good.” Nolan said. 

Suddenly, Jacinto and Zanthos came down to the holding cells. Na-ri and Nolan stopped what they were doing and walked up Zanthos and Jacinto. “What’s up?” Na-ri asked. “We just found something.” Jacinto said. “Well tell us.” Nolan said. “We just found out that Diamond is going to be at some big dinner in NYC tonight,” Zanthos said. “I believe we can make a move.” “What kind of dinner is this?” Na-ri asked. “And how did you find this out?” Nolan asked. “We found out about on social media from Imani’s Twitter account.” Jacinto said. He pulled out his phone and pulled up Imani’s page. They scroll through her page and found her tweet regarding the dinner. “Javits Center at 6 o’clock.” Na-ri said. “Don’t know how long it’ll last but we can do something up there.” Jacinto said. “We can’t.” Nolan said. “And why is that?” Jacinto asked. “If we go up there and make a move, not only will the Vanguard be there but this could mean other heroes could show up. They might possibly be at the dinner too.” “You do make a good point.” Zanthos said. “But with her being at that dinner could change our plans slightly.” Nolan said. “If it could change our plans, why go after her there?” Na-ri asked. “No, this could change our plans for the better.” Nolan said walking around. He paused and looked at the cells and said, “We can bring her here.” “Aren’t you guys still fixing up the cells?” Zanthos asked. “Yes, but it’s almost complete.” Na-ri said. “Zanthos and Na-ri, I want you to go to Javits Center and bring her here,” Nolan said. “But make sure nobody notices.” “We’ll leave in a few minutes.” Zanthos said. Na-ri nodded at Nolan and walked off with Zanthos. “I’ll finish this with you.” Jacinto said. “Thanks.” Nolan said as Jacinto was putting on protective equipment.


	17. Chapter 17

Later on that evening at the Javits Center, there was a crowd (mostly women) gathered inside the conference center wearing formal clothing and sitting at dining tables eating an expensive dinner. In front of those numerous tables was a stage where Imani stood where she was nearing the end of a speech that she was giving for an award she received. “Ever since my first science class in elementary school, I have not ceased to be fascinated with the possibilities of science,” she said. “My passion for science grows with each passing day. And I continue to receive inspiration from my fellow colleagues in this industry. I thank the numerous STEM programs such as the National Science Foundation, Project Lead the Way, National Math and Science Initiative, Association for Women in Science, Girlstart, and Black Girls Code for not only making me into the scientist that I am today but for helping me make my dreams a reality throughout my career. Thank you New York STEM for organizing this dinner tonight. I’m thankful for all of you being here today to champion a STEM education for more women like me and to celebrate women in STEM. Thank you all so much for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight and I hope you all have the great rest of your night.” 

As soon as she ended her speech, the crowd gave her a standing ovation as she stood on the stage smiling. She walked off stage with her award in her hand and headed straight back to her table to where her former classmates and her parents were sitting. Her dad was a dark skinned bald black man wearing a navy blue suit with a tie. Her mom was a spitting image of Imani wearing a long red dress. Only difference between Imani and her mom was that her mom had a few wrinkles on her face and she had dark red hair. As she sat down, her dad gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Proud of you baby girl.” her dad said. “Thanks daddy.” she said back. Her mom grabbed her hands and said, “We are so proud of you Imani. This is only the beginning for you.” “I know,” Imani said smiling. “Stuff like this just makes me appreciate science even more.” “Great speech Imani!” one of her former classmates said. “Thank you,” Imani said. “And thank you all for coming too. It means a lot.” “Speaking of all of us here, where are the boys?” Imani’s dad asked. “They’re back at home,” Imani responded. “We got hit pretty hard and we’re just trying to lay low for awhile.” “Well, what happened?” Imani’s dad asked. “Richard,” Imani’s mom said as she slightly raised her voice. “Don’t ask her stuff like that in public.” “Mom, it’s okay,” Imani said. “I’ll explain when I get home from this. Besides, I need a little bit of a break from it anyway.” “And we’ll continue to give you that break baby.” Imani’s mom said as she patted Imani’s back. “Besides, how long will you guys be in town?” Imani asked. “Just for tonight,” Richard said. “We leave out in the morning. We’re only here tonight for you.” “Thanks dad.” Imani said with a smile. “But your mother and I have something big planned for the both of us.” Richard said. “Oh yeah that’s right your anniversary is coming up.” Imani said. “It sure is, isn’t Samantha?” Richard asked. “It sure is handsome.” Imani’s mom responded. Her parents started kissing and Imani slid into her chair from embarrassment. “Sorry,” she said to her classmates at her table. “My parents can be a bit much.”  
A few miles outside of the Javits Center, Na-ri and Zanthos were standing by a corner coming up with a plan to kidnap Imani. “Na-ri, we can’t just barge in there,” Zanthos said. “If we do that, it’ll most likely bring the rest of the Vanguard here. Or maybe other heroes and we definitely don’t need that.” “Okay, so why don’t you just go in there and try to freeze everyone and we can just take her from there?” Na-ri asked. “Then people will start making assumptions about what happened to Imani and we don’t need that either.” Zanthos said. “What do you suggest we do?” Na-ri asked. “Well… we wait until it’s over,” Zanthos said. “We need to be smart about this. After it’s over, we try to follow her until she’s in a place where nobody can see us and we can take her from there.” Na-ri shrugged her shoulders and said, “Maybe that could work. I still think my plan is better.” “Not everything has to be fast,” Zanthos said. “Come on let’s go.”

About an hour later, the dinner was ending and everybody was saying their goodbyes to each other. Imani was talking to her classmates until her parents came in the circle and sort of interrupted them. “We’re sorry to interrupt,” Samantha said. “But we just wanted to tell our daughter that we’re leaving.” “Oh, excuse me for minute.” Imani said as she walked off with her parents. “Promise us that you will call us whenever you get home.” Richard said. “Will do,” Imani said. “Thank you guys for coming again.” She gave her parents a kiss on the cheek and her parents hugged her back. “Anytime,” Samantha said. “Tell the boys we said hello and send them our love.” “Of course,” Imani said. “They’ll hate that they missed you both.” “Tell them they can talk to us anytime they want to,” Richard said with a small chuckle. “Stay safe baby.” “I will.” Imani said as her parents walked off. As she was getting ready to walk back to her former classmates, a young dark skinned black man walked up to her. The man was wearing a black suit and had a drink in his hand. “Ms. Kelly.” the man said. Imani stopped in her tracks and said, “Oh please,” Imani said. “Imani is just fine. Did you need something?” “I just wanted to say that um… what a great speech you had up there.” the man said. “Oh, why thank you,” Imani said. “Just kind of thought of it off the top of my head a little bit.” “Oh, well more power to you then.” the man said with a smile as he took a drink. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.” Imani said. “Oh yeah, it’s Tony,” he responded. “Tony Bards.” They both shook hands and Imani said, “Well, it was very nice to meet you Mr. Bards. Or should I say Tony?” They both gave a light hearted laugh and she said, “Well, I hope you have a great rest of your night Tony. It was a pleasure to meet you.” As she was walking off, Tony looked up at the ceiling and took one deep breath. He drank the rest of his drink and he firmly put his glass down on a table. Tony started slightly jogging to Imani to get her attention. He caught up to her and touched her on the shoulder. Imani turned around and said, “Oh Tony. Was there something else you needed?” “Um yeah, there was.” he responded. He took in a deep breath and said, “I don’t know if you remember me or what exactly that you did for me but you saved my life awhile back.” “I did?” Imani asked. “Yes,” Tony responded. “It was when you and the rest of the Vanguard were battling these robot dudes. Or dudes inside the robots, I can’t exactly remember. But it was in a building near here and I was inside. The robots were shooting at me and you came in just in time to defend me from them. And then you got me out of that building and got me to safety with S.H.I.E.L.D.” Imani’s eyes got big after he said that and she responded with, “Yes. I do remember!” “I just wanted to get the chance to tell you thank you.” Tony said. “Well, you are certainly welcome,” Imani said with a smile. “It’s what a hero does right?” “You are right on that one,” Tony said. “Well, I’ll let you get back to your little group. Thank you again.” Tony walked off and Imani smiled as he walked away. 

Later on, Imani was getting ready to leave the Javits Center and head back home to her teammates. Tony came running behind her and he said, “Imani.” “Hey Tony.” she said. “I was gonna ask if you mind if I walk you to your car,” he asked. “Or, wait a minute, you flew here didn’t you? You can fly right?” Imani laughed and said, “No, I didn’t fly here nor can I not fly. I drove here. But you can walk me to my car.” They both smiled at each other and walked out of the Javits Center. “Where did you park?” Tony asked. “In a nearby garage just up ahead.” Imani said. As they both started walking, Imani looked at him and asked him, “So, what made you come to a dinner like this?” “One of my classmates and good friends was invited to this dinner,” Tony responded. “She thought it would be great if I came along as well.” “You’re in STEM too?” Imani asked. “Sure am,” Tony responded. “I’m currently in grad school at Columbia University studying Mathematics.” “Columbia huh,” she said. “Well, you know I’m Harvard educated.” “I know,” Tony said with a laugh. “I guess y’all are alright.” “And what is that supposed to mean?” Imani asked. “Nothing really.” Tony said. They both started laughing. “So you’re from here?” Imani asked. “Yeah, I am,” Tony responded. “I actually live in Harlem. I was born and raised there. All my life.” “New York bred huh,” Imani said. “Sounds like you need to meet one of my teammates, Kinetic. He’s actually from Harlem.” “He is?” Tony asked. “Yeah,” Imani responded. “You guys might actually sound like y’all have some stuff in common being from Harlem. Get this, he’s also a grad of Columbia.” “Maybe I do need to get to know him.” Tony said with a slight smile. They both arrived at the parking garage and Imani said, “Well, I’m in this garage here.” “Okay,” Tony said. “I said I will walk you to your car not to the garage.” Imani gave a small chuckle and said, “You did say that but I think you know I can take care of myself.” “I know,” Tony said. “It was just… I mean… I…” Tony froze up a bit and Imani asked, “Are you okay?” “Yeah, yeah,” Tony said. Tony reached in his pocket and gave Imani a card with his information. “I wanted to give you my card,” he said. “I wanted to get your opinion on a few projects I’m working on. I know you’re all science and I’m mathematics. But I figured with your expertise that you could help me out with some things.” Imani looked at his card and said, “I definitely will. Whenever I get some time, I’ll give you a call. Whenever that’ll be. You know being a superhero and all it takes up some time.” “No rush at all,” Tony said. “I promise.” “Well Tony, I really do appreciate you walking me to my car,” Imani said. “Or garage. And thank you for the conversation. It was really nice. You have a great night. And stay safe.” “You too Imani.” Tony said. They both walked off with Tony walking away with a small smile on his face.

As Imani was walking to her car, she felt something strange. She stopped in her tracks and looked around her surroundings. She took a second look and saw nothing. She took a quick breath and continued to walk to her car. As she approached her car, she felt a quick swift wind passing her. She stopped what she was doing and hastily turned around. Seeing nothing, Imani just thought it was just the wind. “Yeah, it’s time to go home.” she said to herself. “Well not if I have something to say about it.” a mysterious voice said. Imani turned around and saw Na-ri in her dark orange catsuit. “You.” Imani said. “Yes, that would be me.” Na-ri said. Imani started walking up to her and Na-ri gave her a quick punch in the gut and Imani fell to her knees. Coughing and slowly getting up from the ground, Imani said, “You’re gonna regret that.” “You’re gonna wish you haven’t gotten up.” Na-ri said. “Hello Imani.” a mysterious voice said. Imani looked up and saw Zanthos walking towards her. She got up off the ground and tried to turn into her diamond form but Zanthos beat her to it as he got inside her mind into and used his powers to bring her into an unconscious state with her falling to the ground. 

Outside of the garage, Tony was standing outside talking to himself. “Why couldn’t you just ask her out,” he asked himself. “I mean it’s nice to ask her for your help on some of your projects but you really could’ve asked her out.” He paused for a minute and started pacing around. “You know what just go and ask her.” he said. He turned around and walked inside the garage to look for Imani. While looking for Imani, he saw Na-ri and Zanthos with an unconscious Imani. Tony quickly ran for cover by hiding behind a car so he won’t be spotted. He took a quick peep to see what was going on. Zanthos picked up her unconscious body and got out his communicator. “Nolan,” he said. “We got her.” “Excellent,” Nolan said. “Make sure she’s unharmed. I might need her for something.” “Will do.” Zanthos said. Zanthos put away his communicator and asked Na-ri, “Shall we?” “Let’s go before somebody finds out.” Na-ri said. They both ran away with Imani back to Canada. Tony saw the whole thing happening and he started to panic. “Oh no,” he said to himself. “Somebody needs to know what just happened.” Tony quickly got out his phone and started going through it to see who can help him find Imani.


	18. Chapter 18

At the Vanguard’s home, the guys were still in the Core Room finishing up from what they were working on earlier in the day. The guys all had tired and exhausting looks on their faces. “I think we should call it a night guys.” Dominic said. “Agreed.” Jeffrey said. “Same here.” Darrell said. “I think we got most of what we need regarding the Alpha Clan,” Dominic said. “Now that we know some things about them, we could probably use this information to our full advantage.” “But how much of an advantage will it give us?” Darrell asked. “An advantage is an advantage no matter how big or small it is.” Jeffrey said. “He’s right.” Dominic said. “Alright, so what’s next?” Darrell asked. “We try to lay a low for a few days.” Dominic said. “Why lay low when we can just go after them right now?” Jeffrey asked. “First, we don’t have everyone,” Dominic said. “Secondly, the Alpha Clan most likely is waiting on us so the best thing we can do is to keep them waiting. Come up with a plan that can throw them off balance like they did us. And with that, we’re gonna need to head back to the Practice Room pretty soon.” “Sounds good to me.” Darrell said. “And whatever level you’ll put it on, I’ll gladly accept it Dom.” Jeffrey said. Dominic walked up to Jeffrey and said, “Thanks. But for now we gonna start it off at a median level and just build it up from there.” “That’s fine by me.” Jeffrey said as he extended his hand to Dominic. Dominic took his hand and they both shook on it and smiled at each other. As the two continued their conversation, Darrell was on his phone looking at pictures from the dinner tonight that Imani was at. “Looks nice.” he said to himself. He then got on the Twitter app and went through his messages. Looking through many fan messages sent to him, he stumbled on one that looked unusual. He opened it and started reading the message. He face turned into a complete shock as he read it. “Oh my God!” Darrell yelled. “Darrell, what’s up?” Dominic asked as him and Jeffrey looked at Darrell. “CT, pull up my Twitter messages now!” Darrell said. “Certainly Darrell.” CT said. One second later, a picture of Darrell’s Twitter messages popped up on a screen. All three of them walked up to the screen and looked up at the screen. “CT, pull up the one that says Tony.” Darrell said. A picture of Tony’s message comes up in a split second. Dominic and Jeffrey started reading it and immediately Jeffrey said, “Oh God!” “Imani’s been kidnapped,” Dominic said softly. “Does this person knows where she could be at?” “I highly doubt it.” Jeffrey said. “CT, can you get me footage of the kidnapping?” Dominic asked. “I have been on it, Dominic,” CT said. “But it appears the cameras in Manhattan were shut down for a certain period of time so I cannot find any footage.” “Shit.” Dominic said. “We need to bring Tony in.” Darrell said. “No,” Jeffrey said. “We can’t just bring a stranger here in our secret home.” “I’m with Jeffrey on this one,” Dominic said. “You know the only people we let in our house is our families and certain heroes.” “I know but we can always erase his memory of our home,” Darrell said. “Plus, instead of meeting him at wherever he’s at, it’ll save us some time to have him meet us here and CT can record everything that happens.” “You got a point.” Jeffrey said. “I suppose.” Dominic said. “I’ll take lead on this as well.” Darrell said. “’Scuse you?” Dominic asked as he turned around and looked at Darrell with a raised eyebrow. “I’m the one that’s worked in the police department and worked as a private detective,” Darrell said. “I know the questions to ask and how to get it out of him. Without using my powers at that.” Dominic shrugs and said, “Go ahead.” “I see he left his number in the message.” Jeffrey said. “I’ll call him now.” Darrell said. “Let’s get out of these clothes and get ready for him.” Dominic said.

As Dominic and Jeffrey left the Core Room, Darrell got out his phone and dialed the number to call Tony. “Thanks CT.” Darrell said. “You’re welcome Darrell.” CT said as the message on the screen disappeared. Darrell heard the phone ringing and each passing second felt like an eternity to him. He started aggressively tapping his foot and stopped for a second to take a deep breath. The ringing stopped. “Hello?” Tony asked. “Tony,” Darrell said. “This is Kinetic from the Vanguard. “Oh thank you God,” Tony exclaimed. “I’m so happy you got my message. I know you get a lot of messages so I’m glad you saw mine. I didn’t know who else to contact except you and the other two guys without causing a commotion.” “It’s okay,” Darrell said. “Thanks for this message. Listen, I need you to come to our home. We can’t talk on the phone much longer. I’ll text you my address and I need you be here as soon as you can. You got it?” “Yessir, I’m already headed to my car.” Tony said. “We’ll see you soon.” Darrell said. He quickly hung up the phone and texted Tony their address. “Let’s get this started.” Darrell as he walked out of the Core Room.

About fifteen minutes later, the trio were in their living room changed out of their suits into casual clothes discussing their plan for Tony. “What are you planning to ask him?” Dominic asked. “Just the usual questions,” Darrell answered. “How was she kidnapped? Who kidnapped her? And then I have a few more I can ask. It’s really just straightforward questions.” “What if he’s being untruthful?” Dominic said. “Now Dom,” Jeffrey said. “Really?” “I’m just being cautious.” Dominic said. “He’s being truthful,” Darrell said. “I can tell in his voice.” There were two quick loud beeps heard in the house. “Gentlemen, I believe Tony has arrived.” CT said. All three of them looked at each other and Dominic said, “Here we go.” The doorbell rings and Darrell said, “I’ll get the door.” Darrell walks off and Jeffrey and Dominic looked at each other and nodded their heads to each other. Darrell opens the door and sees Tony at the front door still wearing his suit from earlier. “Tony, please come in.” Darrell said. “Thank you.” Tony said as he walked in. Darrell shut the door and Tony looked around their home. “Beautiful home you guys have.” Tony said. “Thank you,” Darrell said. “Follow me please.” They both walked to the living room and found Dominic and Jeffrey in there. “Tony, I believe you know SkyBlaze and Stealth.” Darrell said. The duo walked up to Tony and shook his hand. “Pleasure to meet you both.” Tony said, “Likewise.” Dominic said. “Great to meet you as well.” Jeffrey said. “You can have a seat on our couch if you would like.” Darrell said. “Thank you.” Tony said as he took a seat. “Do you need a water or something to drink?” Darrell asked. “A water please,” Tony said. “I’m a little nervous.” “SkyBlaze, could you please?” Darrell asked. “Yeah, no problem.” Jeffrey said as he walked off. 

A few seconds later, Darrell said, “Okay. Start from the beginning.” Tony took a deep breath and said, “Well, I was walking with her to her car from the dinner. And everything seemed fine. When we got to the garage that’s when we started parting our ways. I went to go back for her to tell her something that I forgot and that’s when I saw her and two other people.” “Who were the other people?” Darrell asked. Jeffrey walked back in with a bottle of water for Tony and gave it to him. “Thank you,” Tony said as he took a sip. “The other two people were a guy with long white hair and some Asian girl. But she was fast.” “Zanthos and Velocity.” Dominic said. “Did you hear anything that they were saying?” Darrell asked. “I couldn’t get much from them cause I tried to keep a distance. I was afraid if I got any closer that they would catch me.” “No worries,” Darrell said. “Did you see anything else from that kidnapping?” “Not much,” Tony said. “I’m afraid that’s all I could get from that moment. I’m sorry I’m not much of a help for you guys.” “Don’t worry, you were more than enough help for us.” Darrell said. “You guys are gonna go after her right?” Tony asked. “Of course,” Jeffrey said. “That’s our girl. She’s like a sister to us. We’ll do anything for her.” “I’m just worried about her you know,” Tony said. “Tony,” Darrell said. “If you know Imani as well as we do, you know she’s capable of anything. And she’ll get through it. Whether it’s with us or without us.” Dominic tilted his head sideways and said, “You got a crush on her.” “What?!” Tony exclaimed. “Stealth, I said no powers!” Darrell shouted as he quickly turned around and looked at Dominic. “I didn’t need to use my powers,” Dominic said. “You could see it in his eyes.” “Is it true?” Jeffrey asked. Tony nervously looked at all three of them and said softly, “Yes.” “No reason to be ashamed,” Darrell said. “It’s fine. Really.” Tony sighed and said, “Thanks. I appreciate it.” “You should get home,” Darrell said. “I’ll walk you out.” “Thank you,” Tony said as he got up. “Stealth. SkyBlaze.” Dominic and Jeffrey nodded their heads at Tony as he walked out. Tony and Darrell got to the front door and Darrell said, “Thank you for reaching out to us.” “I’m just glad I could help with what little info I had.” Tony said. “You helped us out a bunch,” Darrell said. “If you didn’t reach out to us, we wouldn’t have known. Now get home safely. Let us know if you know anything else please. And also, make sure you delete that address out of your phone.” “Will do,” Tony said. “Good luck.” Tony walked out of their home and to his car to drive off. As he walked to his car, Darrell used his powers to erase the memory of where their home was located. He saw Tony drive off and he closed the door and walked back in the living room. 

“Alright, we got the information we need,” Darrell said. “What’s next?” “Easy,” Dominic said. “We go after her.” “I thought you said we were gonna lay low.” Jeffrey said. “Well, we’re not gonna lay low without her,” Dominic said. “There’s no telling what the Alpha Clan has for her. So we need to get her now.” “So you’re saying get her and leave?” Darrell asked. “Exactly.” Dominic responded. “But won’t they have something for us?” Jeffrey asked. “And what if we get caught?” Darrell asked. “We won’t,” Dominic said. “But be on your guard at all times. We’re just going in and out. It’ll probably only take 10 minutes depending on how long we find her.” “Aren’t we forgetting the most important thing?” Darrell asked. “What is it?” Jeffrey asked. “Where the hell are they located?” Darrell asked. “I think I know.” Dominic said. Jeffrey looked at Dominic and said, “No.” “Jeffrey, it makes perfect sense,” Dominic said. “Why do you think we couldn’t find anything in the warehouse in the first place? It was cause of Zanthos. He probably tricked us into thinking nothing was there.” “He’s right,” CT said. “I did spot some unusual activity at the railway warehouse and it did appear to be the Alpha Clan.” All the guys swiftly walked out of their living room on their way to the Base.


	19. Chapter 19

At the Alpha Clan’s headquarters, Imani, still unconscious from her encounter with Na-ri and Zanthos and wearing her green dress, was in one of the holding cells the Alpha Clan built underground. Outside of the cell, there were random henchmen building finishing touches to all the cells and were building a secret project for the Alpha Clan. A few minutes later, Imani wakes up. She looks around confused as to where she was at. “What the hell?” she said to herself. She looked all around in her empty white cell. She slowly got up off the ground and started walking around. She faced the front of the cell and saw the random henchmen walking around outside of her cell. “Oh no,” she said. “But did they forget I could easily break out of here.” She tried to turn into her diamond form but nothing was happening. “Come on.” she said. She tried again closing her eyes even harder and even softly grunting but nothing was happened. “This can’t be happening.” “Oh, but it is my dear.” a mysterious voice said. Then a tall figure walked up to her cell only to reveal that it was Nolan. “You.” Imani said.

She rapidly walked up to the front of the cell and touched the bars but the bars electrocuted her and threw her back a few feet. She started coughing and was slow to get off the ground. “Yeah, I wouldn’t touch the bars if I was you.” Nolan said. Still coughing, Imani asked, “What the hell do you want?” “Well, I was hoping you would wake up soon enough,” Nolan said. “Looks like Zanthos got you pretty good huh? But I’m glad you’re awake now. I finally have an audience.” “Who are all these men you have walking around,” she asked. “Does Zanthos has these people under his control?” “Well,” Nolan said. “Right you are. You are the smart one of the group. Probably smarter than our own Velocity.” Imani leaned up against the wall and asked, “You gonna tell me what all these men are building up here?” Nolan turned around and started walking around the underground base of theirs. “Since you’re so eager to know,” Zanthos said. “What the men are building in the back over there… is a bomb.” He pointed at a large device in the back of an open area. “With that bomb…” Nolan said with a slight pause. “You might as well know. I’m gonna kill you, Dominic, Darrell, and Jeffrey with it. Once I capture you all.” Imani’s face turned into a slight frown. “You know you’re not gonna get away this.” Imani said. “Is that what you think?” Nolan asked. He slightly chuckled. “That’s nice of you to say,” he said. “Your friends don’t know what’s coming for them.” Zanthos comes down and walks up to Imani’s cell and said, “She’s finally awake.” Imani’s face turns to even a greater frown. “I was just telling her our miraculous plan.” Nolan said. Zanthos grows a smile on his face and looks down at Imani. “She might show that she’s not scared but deep down she’s just as scared.” Zanthos said. Imani stared at Zanthos with a frown but quickly changes her face to a look of worry. “You see?” Zanthos asked to Nolan. Nolan walked up beside Zanthos and smiled with him. “I see now.” Nolan said. “Like I said before, you all are not gonna get away with this.” Imani said. “And as I said before, those guys won’t know what’s coming once they come here to try to save you.” Nolan said. Nolan and Zanthos gave one final smile to Imani and walked away.

As Nolan and Zanthos went to the main floors of their headquarters, Zanthos asked Nolan, “You didn’t tell her the real plan did you?” “Of course not,” Nolan said. “Now why would I risk that plan?” “Don’t know Nolan.” Zanthos said. As they got to the first floor of their headquarters, Na-ri and Jacinto walked up to their teammates. “Is she awake?” Na-ri asked. “Awake and scared.” Zanthos asked. “She doesn’t know of our real plan though,” Nolan said. “So it looks like we’re good to go.” “I think we should go over the plan one more time.” Jacinto said. “So once the rest of the Vanguard gets here and tries to rescue Imani, that’s when these henchmen we got thanks to Zanthos, will get to the Vanguard before they get to us,” Nolan said. “So while they’re here, we’ll be off into the city doing our thing. Jacinto, of course, you will stay behind here and catch up to us.” “Understood.” Jacinto said. “So when the Vanguard rescues Imani, or if they do, that’s when the bomb goes off,” Nolan said. “We know the bomb won’t cause much damage. Jacinto that’s when you come in and do what you do best.” Jacinto gave his team a nod. “And once you’re done with that, catch up to us and we’ll do what we do best.” Jacinto, Na-ri, and Zanthos gave a small smile to Nolan and Nolan smiled back. “Let’s get ready before they get here,” Nolan said. “Jacinto, get these henchmen ready for the Vanguard. Na-ri, find the best weapons you can find around that the henchmen can use.” “Will do.” Jacinto said. “On it.” Na-ri said as she ran off. Jacinto walked away as well to go find the henchmen. Nolan and Zanthos looked at each other and Nolan said, “We’re close.” “And we’re gonna finish it.” Zanthos said. They both gave a satisfying nod to each other and parted ways. 

Imani was pacing back and forth in her cell. Clasping her hands together, she started talking to herself. “There’s gotta be a way out of here.” she said. She started taking deep breaths. “Think Imani.” she said. She looked outside of her cell and saw two henchmen arguing. “Well, at least I got some entertainment.” she said. She watched the henchmen arguing and then saw the two of them getting into a physical fight. As they were fighting, a power tool fell out of one of the henchmen’s pockets and slid over inside Imani’s cell. She looked down at her feet and saw a power drill. “God, you are funny,” she said. “But, thank you.” She picked up the power drill and activated it. “Let’s get the hell up out of here.” she said with a smile.


	20. Chapter 20

Dominic, Jeffrey, and Darrell were in the Base and walked to the closet to grab their suits. As they were grabbing their suits, Jeffrey stopped and said, “Hey guys. I think I have a better idea.” Darrell and Dominic stopped what they were doing and Darrell asked, “A better idea of what?” “Follow me.” Jeffrey said excitedly as he quickly walked off. Dominic and Darrell looked at each other confused and followed along behind Jeffrey. Jeffrey led them into Imani’s lab and Dominic asked, “What are we doing in here?” “You’ll see.” Jeffrey responded. Jeffrey started looking around her lab until he saw a large black bin in the back. “That must be it.” Jeffrey said. He jogged to the black bin excitedly and opened it. As he did it, his smile grew big. “Oh yeah,” he said to himself excitedly. “Dominic, this is definitely yours.” Jeffrey tossed him what appeared to be a new suit that was blue and black. Dominic caught it and as he unfolded the suit, he said excitedly, “Oh shit this is nice!” Jeffrey pulled out his suit next which was a one piece short sleeve red and yellow suit. “This one is definitely mine.” Next, he pulled out a long sleeve purple suit and tossed it to Darrell. “That’s yours.” Jeffrey said. “Why purple?” Dominic asked. “I don’t know, she could’ve gave me another color.” Darrell said. “Imani said it was your favorite color.” Jeffrey said. Dominic looked at Darrell and said, “You don’t look like purple is your favorite color.” “What is that supposed to mean?” Darrell asked. “Dom, this is also yours.” Jeffrey said as he tossed him a blue jacket. “She knows how much I love jackets.” Dominic said as he caught it. Jeffrey pulled out a white and gray suit that belonged to Imani. “And this is Imani’s which will bring to her.” Jeffrey said. “Are you sure these are ready to go?” Darrell said. “Positive,” Jeffrey said. “She’s been working on them for awhile now. She wanted to surprise you guys with it but I thought let’s surprise her by letting her see us in it.” “Fair enough,” Dominic said. “Now let’s go.” 

A few minutes later, the boys were dressed in their new suits walking to the hangar bay. As they were walking to the jet, it automatically opens as they approached and they walked inside. They all walked to their seats and Jeffrey was readying the jet. “Let’s go save Imani.” Dominic said. “Everybody ready?” Jeffrey asked as he was pressing buttons on the jet. “Let’s do it.” Darrell asked. The doors in the hangar opened up in front of them and the jet slowly started moving and gaining speed each second. As the jet was out of the hangar, the jet setted off and the trio were off to save their kidnapped teammate.

Back at the Alpha Clan’s headquarters, all of the Alpha Clan were suiting up getting ready to head off and start their plan. As they were suited up, they hear a small beep from a computer. “What’s that?” Nolan asked. Jacinto walked up to the computer and pressed a button. Instantly, a live video of the Vanguard’s jet on their way to their headquarters popped up on their computer. “They’re coming.” Jacinto said. “Perfect timing.” Nolan said. They all walked out and went to a large open room with all the henchmen in it. “Everybody listen up.” Zanthos said. The henchmen stopped what they were doing and looked up at the Alpha Clan. “Alright everyone,” Nolan said. “The Vanguard is coming. You already have your weapons thanks to Na-ri. And you need to give it your all against the Vanguard. Jacinto will lead you all into battle against them. So all orders for you all will come from him.” Jacinto nodded at his teammates and said, “I got it from here.” “You know where to find us.” Nolan said. Nolan, Zanthos, and Na-ri all left their headquarters and went on to carry out their plan. Jacinto looked down at the henchmen and said, “Headpieces on everyone.” All the henchmen put on their headpieces and got their weapons ready. Jacinto smiled and said, “Get in positions. And be ready for anything.” The henchmen started scattering around and Jacinto walked out to another part of their headquarters.   
The trio of heroes were closing in on the Alpha Clan’s headquarters. “We should be reaching their headquarters in a bit.” Jeffrey said. “Dominic, what kind of plan you got?” Darrell asked. “You guys might not like it but once we get there and find Imani, we’re getting out of there.” Dominic said. “What?!” Darrell said. “Dom, we got the Alpha Clan where we want them so why not go after them too?” Jeffrey asked. “Look, we’re not ready for them,” Dominic said. “If we try go for them now, we’ll most likely get our asses handed to again. Probably even worse. We need to go for them when we’re ready.” “Jeffrey, I hate to admit but he’s right,” Darrell said. “We’re not ready. But we will be. And fast.” Jeffrey sighed and said, “Alright. But we need to find her fast.” “We will.” Dominic said. “We’re closing in.” Jeffrey said. A couple minutes, they landed in the same place when they first came to Canada. Jeffrey landed the jet and they all instantly got out of the jet and flew to the old warehouse which was now the Alpha Clan’s headquarters.

As they arrived at the Clan’s headquarters, Dominic and Darrell did a telepathic scan of the building to see who was inside. “I’m sensing a lot of random minds but not the Alpha Clan.” Darrell said. “Same here.” Dominic said. “They probably have some type of telepathic block on themselves so we can’t spot them.” Darrell said. “Well, if we can’t sneak in, then we just barge in.” Dominic said. Jeffrey and Darrell glanced at Dominic and gave him a smile. “I’ve been wanting to barge in somebody’s headquarters for a long time and I finally get to do it.” Jeffrey said. The group of heroes walked up to the front doors and Jeffrey lit his hand up in flames and threw stream of fire at the doors and set it on fire. Darrell telekinetically broke the doors and threw them inside. As soon as they stepped foot in their headquarters, dozens of henchmen started running out and fired their weapons at the Vanguard. Dominic immediately held up a force field blocking their gunfire. “Well, I wasn’t expecting this.” Jeffrey said. “Hey,” Dominic said. “I have an idea.” They all strolled to a place to take cover while Dominic was still holding up his shield. As they found cover, Dominic ceased his force field and said, “I go off and find Imani while you guys handle these henchmen.” “Sounds like a plan to me.” Darrell said. “What about if the Alpha Clan comes out?” Jeffrey asked. “Do your best to defend yourselves. Once I find Imani, I’ll let you guys know and we’ll be on our way.” “Okay then.” Jeffrey said. “Be careful.” Dominic said. Dominic instantly turned invisible and instantly ran off to find Imani. 

As Jeffrey was about to get out of cover, Darrell quickly pulled him down. “What was that for?” Jeffrey asked with a baffled look. “I can sense their minds,” Darrell said. “Zanthos has them under control. They’re just innocent people. So we can hurt them.” “Alright, well just get them out of his control.” Jeffrey said. “It’s not that simple,” Darrell said. “Zanthos is a very powerful telepath to get through. It could take awhile to get them out of his control with my powers. But something else that could work is punching them really hard in the head. It’ll easily knock them out and get them out of his control.” “Okay, I see what you’re saying,” Jeffrey said. “But it’s gonna be hard to try and get their weapons out of their hands.” “Then leave that to me.” Darrell said. Darrell got up off the ground and the henchmen quickly saw Darrell and fired their weapons at him. Darrell quickly put a telekinetic shield with one hand and with his other hand, he telekinetically lifted their weapons out of their hands and the henchmen looked stumped for a second and tried to grab their weapons back but were unsuccessful. Jeffrey looked up at the floating weapons and he threw fireballs at it and the weapons melted. Darrell released the melted weapons and the weapons fell straight to the ground. The henchmen stared at their weapons and then looked at Darrell and Jeffrey. After a couple seconds, the henchmen yelled and ran up to the duo and started fighting the heroes hand to hand. Luckily for the heroes, their hand to hand combat skills were far outmatching the henchmen. One by one, the duo were knocking out the henchmen with their punches and getting them out of Zanthos’ control. “I don’t know if this is just me but this seems very easy.” Jeffrey said. “No, it’s definitely easy,” Darrell said. “And it’s about to get easier from here.” Darrell quickly sped up his attacks and starting knocked out the henchmen he had in less than twenty seconds. Jeffrey looked at Darrell and gave him a smile. “Didn’t know that you could do that.” Jeffrey said. “That’s that Harlem and NYPD in me.” Darrell said with a chuckle. Suddenly, a second wave of henchmen came running out. The henchmen were bigger and stronger than the first wave and also had much better weapons. “Get them!” one of the henchmen yelled. He fired his weapon at Darrell and Jeffrey and the rest of their henchmen followed suit. Darrell again held up telekinetic force field and Jeffrey got right behind him. “I hope Dominic is having some luck finding Imani cause I’m already tired of this.” 

For the past 10 minutes, Dominic, still invisible, searched all over the base for his missing teammate. Having no luck, Dominic put his hands on his head and took a deep breath. “Alright, where could she be?” he asked himself. “If I can’t find her up here then she must be…” Dominic paused and thought of an idea. He looked down and got on his hands and knees. His hands turned to a glowing blue transparent color as he was activating his powers. Suddenly, he released a powerful force burst underneath him shattering the floor underneath him. As he was falling, he caught himself using his powers by creating a force bubble around him so he wouldn’t hit the ground. He slowly hovered to the ground and ceased his force bubble. He looked around and saw that he was in the underground hallway full of holding cells. Slowly walking around, he looked in each cell looking for Imani. “Imani!” he shouted. No response. “Imani!!” he shouted even louder. Still no response. He walked up to one cell and saw that there was a hole in the wall. He stopped to think for a second and immediately ran off to look for Imani even harder. Running around like a chicken with his head cut off, Dominic finally found Imani and she was fighting off some of the henchmen. “Imani!!” Dominic yelled. Imani gave one final punch to a henchmen that knocked him out and she said, “Dominic?” Dominic quickly came out of his invisibility and ran up to Imani. “How’d you get out?” Dominic asked. “God,” Imani said. “And a power drill.” “How did you get a power drill?” Dominic asked. “It just slid in my cell after these two henchmen got to fighting. And then… How’d you find your new suit?” “Jeffrey gave it to us,” Dominic said. “Speaking of suits, here’s yours.” Dominic opened up his jacket and grabbed Imani’s suit and tossed it to her. She caught it and Dominic said, “You got a minute.” “Do you know how long it’s gonna take for me to get out of this dress?” Imani asked. “Fine, you have a minute and ten seconds.” Dominic said as he walked off to give Imani some privacy. Dominic looked around the underground hallway to look for more clues until he walked into a large open space. He saw a strange device in the middle of the area and went to go inspect it. The device was a huge blue circular device that was mounted to the ground. He walked around the ball to find some clues on it until he saw a timer at the bottom of the ball. “Oh shit.” Dominic said to himself. “Dominic!” Imani yelled out! She came running to his side in her new uniform and pushed Dominic out of the way. “Imani, it’s okay,” Dominic said. “Well not quite. But we got less than four minutes until this bomb goes off.” “Wait,” Imani said. “I thought that he wasn’t gonna use this bomb until he captured all of us.” “What?” Dominic asked. “But look never mind about that,” Imani said. “Where’s Darrell and Jeffrey?” “They’re upstairs attacking the henchmen.” “And the Alpha Clan?” Imani asked. “I don’t know but we need to get out of here.” Dominic said. “Well, we can’t just leave these henchmen to die.” Imani said as she looked back at them. Dominic glanced at them as well and he said, “Grab as many as you can.” 

Jeffrey and Darrell were upstairs finishing off the rest of the henchmen knocking them out one by one but Darrell was using his telepathic powers. “That’s it.” Darrell said. He telekinetically gathered all the remaining henchmen in one area and released a powerful telepathic attack that knocked out all the henchmen. “Dang Darrell,” Jeffrey said. “Didn’t know you could do that.” “I guess I’m full of surprises then.” Darrell said. “SkyBlaze and Kinetic,” Dominic said over their communicators. “You have got to get those henchmen out of that building now. There’s a bomb down here that could possibly take out the entire building so get them out of there!” Darrell and Jeffrey looked at each other and Jeffrey grabbed two henchmen while Darrell telekinetically lifted up a group of henchmen. “Showoff.” Jeffrey said. “Shut up and get these people out of here.” Darrell said. They quickly ran out the building and got the henchmen far away from the building. “Alright but that’s just half of them.” Jeffrey said. They both ran back to the building and grabbed the last remaining henchmen in the building and brought them outside to same place where they put the first group of henchmen. “They all should be safe here.” Darrell said. “What about Dominic?” Jeffrey asked. “Oh shit and Imani!” Darrell said as his eyes got big. They both ran back inside and frantically started looking for Dominic and Imani. Suddenly, Dominic and Imani came and found them. “Guys!” Imani shouted. “Imani!” Jeffrey and Darrell shouted. They both ran up to Dominic and Imani and Jeffrey asked, “Imani, are you okay?” “I’m fine,” she said. “We had some henchmen ourselves and we got them out of here.” “Now, we need to get ourselves out of here so let’s go.” Dominic said. As they were about to escape, they immediately felt an explosion underneath them. “Oh no!” Jeffrey said. After a couple more quick explosions, Dominic held up a force field around them to protect themselves from the explosions. After about thirty seconds, they looked at each other confused after the two explosions ceased. Dominic let down his force field and he asked, “Does anybody else find this weird?” “Stealth, I promise you you’re not the only one.” Darrell said. After a few seconds, the building started rumbling. The team lost balance for a second as it caught them off guard but regained it that next second. “Earthquake?” Jeffrey asked. “Don’t know but we need to get out of here.” Imani said. “There’s the front door right ahead of us.” Dominic said. As soon as they made their first step, the building starts closing in on them. Then parts of the ceiling start falling off. Suddenly, a big part of the ceiling falls right in front of the front door and they were trapped. Soon after, the whole ceiling collapsed. Dominic tried to put up a force as the ceiling collapsed but it looked like it was too late. 

Outside of the building, Jacinto was about 10 feet away from the building and his arms were held out facing the building as he was the one causing the building’s collapse. He was grunting and his nose started bleeding. A few seconds later, the building starts to cave in and the whole building is demolished. After that, Jacinto decided to do a little something extra by opening up the ground below the building and started to bury the building halfway through the ground. A few seconds later, he stopped. The now demolished building was halfway in the ground. He walked up to the remains of the building and got out his communicator. “Mission is complete,” Jacinto said. “The building is destroyed.” “Good,” Nolan said. “It’s time for the next phase of the plan then.” “On my way.” Jacinto said.


	21. Chapter 21

About 10 minutes later, Jacinto met up with the rest of the Alpha Clan outside of downtown St. John’s in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was dark outside with only half of the moon shining in the sky but on ground, lights were lit up all throughout the downtown area. People were walking the streets enjoying the quiet but lively nightlife. All of the Alpha Clan were on a cliff overlooking the downtown area. “So,” Na-ri said. “What are we waiting for?” “Nothing at all,” Nolan said. “Jacinto, would you do the honors?” “My pleasure.” Jacinto responded. As Jacinto took a deep breath, his palms were facing the ground and the ground started to shake. Pieces of terrain started breaking off the cliff and below the Alpha Clan, the ground started to rise. Until the ground below them broke off of the cliff and they were now in the air thanks to Jacinto. “Downtown, here we come.” Jacinto said as they were flying off. As they were all flying in the air, Nolan looked down at the people on the streets and made an evil smile. He looked up and saw that they were close to the spot that they needed to be in. “Right over there.” Nolan said as he pointed to the middle of a busy street. Jacinto quickly flew him and his teammates over to that busy street and landed right in the middle of traffic. 

As they landed, a few cars immediately hit their brakes trying not to hit the Alpha Clan. Cars were also swerving left and right crashing into light poles and fire hydrants. People on the sidewalks were dodging cars who crashed into light poles and fire hydrants like their lives depended on it. About a minute passed by and after all the disruption stopped, people were getting out of their cars and looked at the Alpha Clan. “Who is that?” a pedestrian asked. “I don’t know.” another pedestrian said. The Alpha Clan started looking at each other and Nolan asked, “Shall we cause some chaos?” “We shall.” Zanthos responded. Nolan blinked and his eyes changed to an electric white color. After that, the lights outside and inside various buildings started to flicker. “What’s going on?” a pedestrian frightfully asked. As she asked that, people around started to panic. Jacinto took a few steps forward and the pedestrians who were right in front of him started backing up. Jacinto closed his eyes and sighed. As soon as he opened them, the ground violently started to shake. The people started losing balance while a few of them fell to the ground. A few seconds later, they all started screaming and running away from the Alpha Clan. People were running out of buildings like a herd of animals. All of sudden, sirens started blaring out of nowhere. The Alpha Clan stood and watched as people were running away from the chaos they were causing. Nolan, eyes still glowing white, threw his arms in the air as lightning started blasting out of his fingertips. The lightning was hitting different places around them such as cars, windows, light poles, and other things. Zanthos turned around and saw flashing blue lights from a distance. “Police.” he said. “You know what to do.” Nolan said. Zanthos put his fingertips to his head and used his powers on the cops. As one of the cops was driving, he started swerving off the road. “Baker, what are you doing?!” the officer in the passenger seat yelled. Suddenly, the cop car crashed into a nearby building and so did a few others right behind it. “They’re gonna send more on the way.” Zanthos said. “Oh I know.” Zanthos said. In front of them, they saw a few policeman getting out of their cars with their guns drawn at them. “Fire!!” one of the cops screamed. Before they could fire their guns, Na-ri used her super speed and snatched the guns from them in just a millisecond. All the cops looked down at their hands surprised that their guns disappeared. “What the hell is going?” a cop asked. “Well, that would be me.” Na-ri said. All the cops turned and looked at her and she quickly attacked them by knocking them out with just one punch. She ran back to her team and said, “That’s taken care of.” Jacinto stopped using his powers and the ground stopped shaking. “Alright then,” Nolan said. “Spread out. Amuse yourselves. Do what you know best.” 

The group split into their own ways to do as much destruction to the city as they could. Jacinto stayed close and looked at the different buildings around where he was at. “Time to bring down the house.” he said to himself. He threw his arms out in front of him and the ground started shaking violently. A few seconds later, the buildings around him started crumbling. Next thing you know, a building collapsed and came crashing down to the down. One by one, buildings started collapsing and crashing down thanks to Jacinto. Police cars started driving up to Jacinto and he immediately used his powers to stop them in their tracks by opening up holes in the street to which the police cars fell in. As they fell in, Jacinto used his powers to slightly close up the holes so they won’t be able to escape. Zanthos was in another part of downtown as he saw random citizens running away from him. He looked at them for a few seconds until he got on top of a car and yelled, “STOP!!” All of the citizens stopped running and looked up at Zanthos. “Now,” Zanthos said. “Attack each other.” The citizens started looking at each other and broke off into random fist fights with each other. Zanthos looked down at the citizens smiling and laughing at them. Na-ri was running around in different parts of downtown to different fire departments and police stations disabling their all the vehicles so they couldn’t do their jobs. “Velocity to Living Electric,” Na-ri said. “All emergency vehicles are disabled.” “Good,” Nolan said back to her. “Hit all the other areas outside of downtown so they won’t be able to reach us.” “On it.” Na-ri said. In just a quick second, Na-ri ran off to finish her objective. As Nolan got through talking with her, he noticed the wind started picking up. He looked up and saw a helicopter was right above him. “Stand down or we’ll have no choice but to fire at you.” the pilot said over a megaphone. Nolan’s eyes turned into his usual electric white color and he attacked the helicopter by throwing a lightning bolt at it. The helicopter tried to dodge Nolan’s attack but was unsuccessful as the helicopter was hit and slowly came crashing down. Before it crashed, the pilot jumped out the helicopter with his parachute and watched his helicopter crashed into the street. More helicopters started closing in on Nolan and he used the same attack he used on the first helicopter and all the helicopters had the same result as the first one did with them crashing down and all the pilots jumping out with their parachutes. “How is everybody coming along?” Nolan asked everyone over his communicator. “Doing just fine.” Jacinto said. “Everything is going swell on my end.” Zanthos said. “Will be back with you guys in just a few.” Na-ri said. “Good job everyone,” Nolan said. “Keep it going.”


	22. Chapter 22

The headquarters of the Alpha Clan was now just a large pile of rubble thanks to Jacinto. Smoke and dust was still in the air from the demolished building. Suddenly, the rubble was quietly shaking. The rubble then started to shake more violently and started to move. More rubble started shaking violently until the rubble shot off in the air. Out came the Vanguard in a force bubble thanks to Dominic. They all safely got out of the rubble and landed on the ground ceasing Dominic’s force bubble. “Everybody alright?” Imani asked. “We’re good.” Darrell asked. “Can’t believe we almost got a building collapsed on us.” Jeffrey said. “Trust me, you’ll get used to it.” Dominic said. All of them started looking at their surroundings looking for the Alpha Clan. “Kinetic, you getting anything?” Dominic asked. “Negative,” Darrell said. “Not here or anywhere close.” “If they’re not here then they’re…” Dominic said. “Probably out in the city.” Imani said. They all looked at her as their eyes got big. “We gotta go.” Dominic said. “Where did we do with our jet?” Imani asked. “Right over there.” Jeffrey said as he pointed to the direction of their jet. Everybody started to fly to the jet with Imani flying on Dominic’s force disc and in less than a minute, they were all at their jet. They ran inside as Jeffrey was readying their jet. “CT, do you know where the Alpha Clan is?” Dominic asked as he sat in his seat. “According to reports, there appears to have been activity going on in Downtown St. John’s,” CT said. “There are reports of buildings demolished. Helicopters that have crashed. Citizens fighting each other. Police and fire fighters are nowhere to be found.” “That’s definitely Zanthos doing right there when it comes to citizens fighting each other.” Darrell said. “Zanthos or not, we gotta get to St. John’s,” Dominic said. “Jeffrey, are you ready?” “Ready for takeoff.” Jeffrey responded. The jet started gaining height as the engines started to rev up. A couple of seconds later, they were at a decent height and they jetted off to their next destination.

Few minutes later, they arrived in St. John’s where they see nothing but destruction and chaos going around. Buildings demolished and on fire. Citizens running around ablaze and fighting each other. Cars crashed into light poles and stacked on each other. Very little emergency vehicles to be found. “Oh my God.” Imani said. Darrell started groaning as he grabbed his forehead. “Ahh.” he said softly. “Darrell, are you okay?” Imani asked as she got out of her seat and walked to Darrell said. “I feel so many people’s pain,” he responded. “And fears. I haven’t felt anything like this before.” “I feel it too,” Dominic said. “That means a lot of citizens are in trouble.” “I don’t see any of the Alpha Clan around here.” Jeffrey said. “That’s fine,” Dominic said as he walked to front of the jet. “We just need to save these people that are in trouble.” 

On the ground, Zanthos looked up in the sky and felt that the Vanguard were in the city. “Heads up everyone,” he said on his communicator. “The Vanguard is here. I feel it.” Nolan looked up and saw their jet in the sky a couple miles away. “Jacinto, I thought you care of them.” Nolan said. “I did and I made sure of it too.” Jacinto said. “Well, do what you’re supposed to do.” Nolan said. Jacinto looked up and saw their jet in the sky and looked at the ground below him. The ground trembled beneath him as it started to crack. He then turned it into a huge giant ball of rock and as the Vanguard passed above him he then hurled it at their jet at a great speed. Unbeknownst to them, the giant rock hit their jet before CT could give them a warning. The jet took a huge hit as everybody lost their balance on the jet. The jet was slowly going down and Jeffrey did his best to regain control of it but nothing was working. “Hang on everyone, we’re going in for a crash landing!” Jeffrey said. Their jet started coming down faster and faster. Dominic created a force field outside the jet so the jet wouldn’t take anymore damage. Soon after, Dominic now had control of the jet thanks to his force field. He telekinetically landed the safely from all the chaos. 

They immediately ran out of their jet and looked at their surroundings. “We gotta go after the Alpha Clan.” Jeffrey said. “Not yet,” Dominic said. “There’s too many citizens’ lives at stake right now. Besides, we need to get back on their good side so this is probably the only way.” “Stealth is right,” Imani said. “We gotta make sure these people are safe before we to the Alpha Clan.” “Alright y’all,” Dominic said. “Save as many citizens as you can. Communicate with your communicators. Kinetic and I will let you know of any more trouble arises. Split up.” Everybody went off in their own separate ways. Dominic used his telepathy to scan for any people that needed help. Until he saw a helicopter that crashed into a burning building with people inside trapped. He instantly flew to that building and used his powers to telekinetically get the helicopter out of the building. He saw the helicopter was quickly catching on fire and set it on the ground and immediately exploded. The people inside looked at Dominic and as he began to come inside, they all backed up. “It’s alright,” he said. “I’m not here to hurt you guys. I would never do that.” The building started to crumble as the parts of the ceiling started falling off. Then several lights started crashing down from the ceiling above one civilian but before it could hit him, Dominic deflected it by using his powers. “Guys, come on we gotta get out of here!” Dominic said. Dominic made a force slide for the people to get safely out of. One civilian slowly walked up to Dominic’s force slide and slid down to safely. Another one followed right behind and took the force slide to safety. All the civilians started getting on Dominic’s force slide and they slid down to safety. Except for one civilian that stayed behind. “Come on man!” Dominic said as he motioned him to his slide. “I’m scared!” he yelled. The building was starting to collapse. “We’re gonna die!” the scared civilian yelled. “No we’re not!” Dominic said. Dominic walked up to him and asked him, “What’s your name?” “Paul.” he responded. “Alright Paul,” Dominic said. “I’m gonna get you out of here. It’s okay to be scared. Stuff like this scares me all the time. Trust me.” Part of the floor collapsed but luckily they didn’t fall through. Paul started to scream and Dominic said, “Take my hand. I’m gonna get you out of here.” Paul took Dominic’s hand and they both took small steps to get to Dominic’s force slide. “You’re doing good Paul, just take your time. I’m right here with you.” The small steps they took turned into slightly larger steps. More of the building started to collapse. As they got closer to Dominic’s slide, the entire building was starting to come down. Paul looked behind and got scared. “Don’t look back, just keep going forward.” Dominic said as he looked at Paul. They finally made it to Dominic’s slide and they both slid down to safety as the entire building collapsed. All of them look at the building as it was coming down and Dominic faced Paul and said, “Great job up there.” He then faced the crowd of people he saved and said, “You guys need to get out of here. Go find safety. Go!” The small crowd did as he said as he went off to find more trouble. 

Darrell found the group of mass civilians that were fight each other. Dozens of people using whatever they can use for their fights. Their fists. Their kicks. Bottles. Trash can lids. Anything around them. Darrell tried to get inside one of their minds but he realized that it was gonna be a challenge for him. “Whatever Zanthos did, it’s making me difficult to get through. More difficult than it was back with those henchmen” he said to himself. As he closed his eyes, a random citizen came up behind and pushed him down to ground. “What the…” he said. He looked up and saw a citizen about to punch him but he blocked her attack. Darrell got up from the ground and grabbed her arm to stop her from attacking him. She was doing everything she can to try to attack him but Darrell kept on blocking her attacks. “Look lady, I don’t wanna bust you upside your head and hurt you.” Darrell said to her. Not listening to him, the lady continued to try and attack him but nothing was working for her. Darrell got annoyed and grab her by the head and he used a powerful telepathic attack. Darrell let go of her instantly after he attacked her and he started breathing heavily from using his powers. “Where am I?” the lady asked. “Somewhere you shouldn’t be.” Darrell said. “Why are all these people fighting?” she asked. “They’re under somebody else’s mind control,” Darrell said. “You need to go before it gets too dangerous. Get out of here!” The lady ran away to safety. Darrell looked at the civilians wo where still fighting and took a deep breath. “Jeez, this probably gonna hurt a lot.” he said to himself. He used a powerful telekinetic attack to freeze the civilians so they could stop attacking each other. He threw out his arms in front of him toward the civilians and unleashed a powerful telepathic attack. As he was getting inside all of their heads, he started groaning in pain as he was releasing them from Zanthos’ mind control. After that, he fell to his knees and started breathing heavily again. The civilians looked at each other confused to what happened with them because they couldn’t remember. Darrell steadily got up from the ground and walked to the civilians, free from Zanthos’ control. “You all need to get out of here and get to safety,” Darrell said to them. “I see that some of you all are slightly injured. If you need to get medical attention, go to the nearest hospital you can find and stay there until it’s safe to come out.” The civilians listened to Darrell and all went their separate ways to find safety. He watched them go out to safety and he suddenly felt dizzy in the head. “Oh man, that took a lot out of me.” he said to himself.

Imani went over to Jacinto’s area and saw the demolished buildings. She turned into her diamond form and went to each demolished building looking for survivors under the rubble but was unsuccessful. “Stealth,” she said over her communicator. “Do you think you can help me find some survivors under this rubble where I’m at?” “Where are you?” Dominic asked. “Corner of 59th and Luthor.” Imani responded. Dominic telepathically scanned where she was at but no minds were popping up under the rubble. “Nobody under the rubble but I got 10 cop cars under a hole a street over from you.” Dominic said. Imani ran a street over to find the cop cars and she did. She stopped in her tracks and said, “I know he said 10 but this looks like more than 10.” She continued to run up to the cars and grabbed the first one pulling it out of the hole. As she got the first car out, a couple cops quickly got out of the car and drew their guns at Imani. “Freeze!” they both yelled. Imani immediately put her hands and said, “I am not your enemy, I just saved your lives you know.” “That’s good and all but we still have a warrant for you and your team’s arrest.” one of the cops said. “Do you honestly think we purposely attack you and your citizens,” Imani asked. “Think for a second. Who was the one that put you guys in that hole I just saved you out of? If we were to do this, do you think we would be saving you right now? There are citizens out there who are running rampant who need their local officer’s help but if you wanna arrest me and leave your citizens hanging then be my guest.” She held both of her arms out in front of her for the cops to arrest her. One of the officers sighed and asked, “Do you mind helping get the rest of the officers out?” Imani side eyed one of the officers and walked up to grab the next cop car out of the hole. As she pulled it out, the cops that were already saved helped their fellow officers out of the badly damaged car. Few minutes later, Imani was able to get all of the cars out of the hole. “That’s everybody.” she said. “Thank you Diamond.” one of the cops said. “Where are the rest of the police force?” Imani asked. “They were having trouble at their stations with their vehicles,” another cop said. “So far, we’re the only ones out here.” “Alright, that might make your job a bit harder,” Imani said. “But these people need you now more than ever. Don’t let anything stop you guys. Focus on the citizen’s and nothing else. We’ll handle the bigger stuff.” “You heard her boys.” a cop said. The cops were on the way to save the civilians who still needed saving. 

Jeffrey was rescuing pilots that were trapped in their burning helicopters and weren’t able to escape. The flames were getting larger and larger and it was becoming difficult for the pilots to escape from their helicopters. One of the pilots started screaming and Jeffrey said, “Don’t you worry, I’m getting you out of here.” Jeffrey stood back and turned into his fiery form and started hovering in the sky. “Just remember what Dominic told you.” he said to himself. As the flames grew intensely, Jeffrey slowly started to spin around in the air. As he started gaining speed, the flames from the helicopters started coming towards him and absorbing into his body. As the flames absorbed into his body, his flames increasingly became larger and brighter. As he absorbed all the flames into his body, his flame gave off a bright light until he floated down and turned back into his human form. He was easily able to rescue the trapped pilots in the helicopters and get them to safety. “Are you guys alright?” Jeffrey asked. “Yes, thank you SkyBlaze,” one of the pilots said. “But there are few burning buildings around downtown.” “I’ll make sure I get to them,” Jeffrey said. “But everybody grab on to each other so I can take you down to ground level.” Everybody did as Jeffrey said and he turned into his fiery form to a point where he’s not dangerously burning the people linked to him. Jeffrey hovered them down to the street and said, “You all should be safe,” Jeffrey said. “If you can help out some people, do it.” The pilots scattered to safety as Jeffrey turned back into his fiery form and flew over to burning buildings all on one street to get rid of their flames. Jeffrey flew over to the middle of the buildings and immediately spun around to absorb the flames. At a faster rate than he did before, Jeffrey’s flame from his body grew even larger and brighter. After he was done, a burst of a bright white light came from his body. The light was so bright that it caught everybody’s attention in downtown. After he was done, he felt his energy reach an all-time high. “Oh wow,” he said. “I’ve never felt like this before.”


	23. Chapter 23

Dominic was still scanning around for stranded citizens who needed rescuing. He saw a few citizens trapped inside a building and ran up to the building using his powers to free them. As the citizens were escaping, Dominic yelled out, “Come on, let’s go!!” As he was motioning them to escape, Dominic got on his communicator to get in touch with his teammates. “Diamond, SkyBlaze, Kinetic,” he said. “How y’all doing?” “Citizens are out of Zanthos’ control,” Darrell said. “All of them should be safe now.” “The cops have been rescued,” Imani said as she turned back into her regular form. “They’re working on a way to bring in more emergency services over here.” “Burning buildings have been extinguished,” Jeffrey said. “Helicopter pilots have been rescued from their helicopters.” “Alright, sounds like the city is safe.” Dominic said. “Not yet,” Imani said. “We still have the Alpha Clan out here somewhere. Hiding.” “We need to find them.” Jeffrey said. “And it needs to be quick cause we don’t know what they got planned.” “We need to find them as one,” Dominic said. “As we remain split up, that gives them an advantage. That’s how they got us last time.” “Where’s your location?” Jeffrey asked. “Meet me at the bus station near…” Dominic said.

A quick blur past in front of Dominic. “Stealth, what’s up?” Darrell said. “I might have found one of th…” Instantly, Dominic was punched in the face and flew up a few feet in the air. Dominic landed on the ground face first. “Ahh!” he said. “Stealth!” Imani yelled over her communicator. After Dominic slowly rose up from the ground, he looks up and sees Na-ri in front of him. “Hello Stealth.” she said. “You.” Dominic said. As Dominic tried to attack her, Na-ri used her super speed to counter attack him and gave him a few kicks to the face knocking him down to the ground. “Stealth, where are you?” Jeffrey asked. As he turned into his fiery form, an unexpected electric attack came at Jeffrey and he was knocked back against a truck extinguishing his flame. As Jeffrey opened his eyes, he sees Nolan floating down with surges of electricity coming out of his fingers. “SkyBlaze,” Nolan said. “So nice to meet you face to face finally.” “And you’re gonna regret it.” Jeffrey said as he immediately turned into his fiery form. He lunged at Nolan, grabbing him and both of them flew right into a building as they both started to attack each other. Imani was running around looking for her teammates but couldn’t find them anywhere. “Where are you guys?” she asked on her communicator. She heard no answer. “Come in!” she said. She closed her eyes and turned into her diamond form but nothing was working. “Oh my God.” she said to herself. She tried again but nothing was working. “Seems like something’s wrong Ms. Kelly.” a mysterious voice said. She looked over and saw Zanthos coming out of the shadows. “Can’t turn into your heroic form?” Zanthos asked. Imani angrily ran up to him to attack him using hand to hand combat but Zanthos was able to block her attack. “I wouldn’t underestimate me.” Zanthos said. Darrell was flying around the city to find his teammates. He looked down and saw Jeffrey and Nolan fighting. “SkyBlaze!” he screamed out. Unexpectedly, Jacinto flew up right behind Darrell on a flying rock. Darrell turned around and was shocked to find Jacinto. Jacinto backflipped and flung the rock that was under him at Darrell and hit Darrell knocking him out of the sky. 

Before hitting the ground, Jacinto used his powers to stop his fall as he was able to raise the ground below to save him from the fall. Darrell landed on a car breaking all of its windows and denting the top of the car. He rolled off the car and got up steadily got off the ground. “Nice to see you again Kinetic.” Jacinto said. Darrell started coughing and he said, “Can’t say the same for you Stone.” Jacinto started shaking the ground around him and the ground started breaking apart. Seconds later, several large rocks started floating around Jacinto and he hurled one of them at Darrell. Darrell immediately dodged it and he hovered in the air using his telekinesis. He tried to use his telepathy to get inside Jacinto’s head but nothing was working. “I can tell you’re trying to get inside my head,” Jacinto said. “It’s not gonna work thanks to Zanthos.” After he said that, he immediately threw another large rock at Darrell. Darrell was able to stop the rock from hurling at him using his telekinesis. Jacinto then threw the rest of the rocks at Darrell but Darrell again was able to stop them with his telekinesis. Darrell then hurled the rocks back at Jacinto but Jacinto was to stop them using his powers. Now, the two were in a battle of telekinesis vs. geokinesis to see who was able to attack first. Darrell was grunting and even breaking a sweat to try and overpower Jacinto but nothing was working. Jacinto saw Darrell struggling and created one more large rock and looked at Darrell with an evil smile. Jacinto then overpowered Darrell as he won the battle between the two by hurling all of the large rocks at Darrell and Darrell was sent flying back crashing on the ground. Jacinto ran up to him as Darrell was still on the ground. Jacinto then grabbed him by his suit and immediately started punching him repeatedly. He threw Darrell on the ground and Darrell started coughing up blood. As he got up from the ground ready to attack Jacinto, Jacinto started shaking the ground below Darrell. Darrell looked below him and saw cracks forming on the street. Before Darrell could attack Jacinto, Jacinto quickly opened a hole below Darrell and Darrell fell in. “So long Darrell.” Jacinto said. He used his powers to close up the hole leaving Darrell trapped inside. 

Imani and Zanthos were in a hand to hand battle between each other. The battle between them seemed evenly matched as they both were blocking and dodging each other’s attacks. “You’re good at this aren’t you?” Imani asked. “Some things I easily excel at my dear.” Zanthos responded. Zanthos attacked Imani using a flying kick and was able to knock her down. She quickly got back up and got into a fighting stance. She quickly attacked Zanthos by using her martial arts that she learned from Dominic. After a few quick punches, she grabbed Zanthos’ arm and kicked him in the chest knocking him back a few feet. “Impressive.” Zanthos said. “I don’t need my powers to defeat you.” Imani said. “But that’s just in a fair fight.” Zanthos said. Zanthos used his telepathic powers and froze Imani in place. “One thing you should know about me,” he said. “I don’t play fair.” He used another telepathic attack except that it was a painful attack. Imani grabbed her head and started screaming in agony from the pain that Zanthos was putting inside her head. She fell to the ground and after a few seconds, she was knocked out with one last attack that Zanthos gave her. 

Dominic and Na-ri were still fighting and Dominic had a hard time keeping up with her. Dominic was constantly getting bested by her as her super speed had an advantage. “Can’t keep up?” she asked. “You’re gonna regret this.” Dominic said. Dominic created a force field around himself, in the shape of his body, to protect himself from Na-ri. “You think that’s gonna stop me?” Na-ri asked. “Maybe, but we’ll see.” Dominic said. Na-ri ran up to him and immediately attack him with a flurry of punches but Dominic was taking no damage to it. Dominic tried to punch Na-ri but she was able to dodge it. She ran back up to him and tried again but it didn’t work. He grabbed one of her arms, exciting him, and punched her in the stomach. He attacked her a few more times, with success, and ended it with a low side sweep kick making her fall to the ground. She quickly got up and ran away. Dominic frantically looked around for her. “Alright, Velocity ,” he said. “No need to hide from me.” Dominic partially ceased his force field leaving his head out in the open to use his telepathy to find her. Scanning around, he was able to locate her nearby. “Gotcha.” he said to himself. He ran to go get her but Na-ri immediately ran up to him and punched him in the face. She ran back and ran back up to him punching him again but this time her punch sent Dominic flying in the air thanks to her super speed. Dominic landed on the ground head first knocking him out and ceasing his force field he had.

Jeffrey and Nolan were still battling it out. Jeffrey hurled multiple fireballs at him but Nolan was able to counterattack his attacks. Nolan then sent out an attack of his own but Jeffrey was able to dodged them. Jeffrey then flew to Nolan and grabbed him and he released a powerful fire burst from his body and sent Nolan crashing into a car. “Stand down Electric,” Jeffrey said as he walked up to him. “Or you’ll face something that you’ll regret.” Nolan slightly chuckled as he got up. “That’s cute.” he said. Nolan let out an unexpected electric burst but Jeffrey was able to hold up a fire shield to protect himself from his attack. As he let his shield down, Nolan started attacking him hand to hand with electric fists. Even in Jeffrey’s fiery form, Nolan took no damage from his flame. As Nolan got a few punches in, Jeffrey finally blocked one of his punches and grabbed his fist but Nolan opened his fist and let out a small electric burst from his hand to Jeffrey’s face. “Ahh!!” he yelled out as he stepped back. Nolan charged up his fist and sent out a beam of electricity to Jeffrey but Jeffrey counter attacked it by sending out a beam of fire. Now it was fire vs. electricity. It looked like Jeffrey was winning as his flame was diminishing Nolan’s lightning. But Nolan started gaining power as he absorbed all the electricity around him making his beam of lightning bigger and began over powering Jeffrey. As he saw Nolan gaining power, he made his flame even hotter but it looks like nothing was working. A few seconds later, Nolan started walking towards Jeffrey and Jeffrey tried his best to keep him from getting closer but it didn’t work as he fell to his knees. Jeffrey was not going to give up. His flame got even hotter. His beam of fire increasing in size but Nolan is still able to walk up to him with ease. Nolan stopped walking and said, “I think you’re going to regret this.” He threw his arms out and released a powerful lightning bolt that hit Jeffrey and sent him flying back into a nearby river knocking him out and extinguishing his flame. Nolan started flying in the air and went to the river that Jeffrey fell in. 

Dominic, still in a battle with Na-ri, woke back up groaning from the punch Na-ri gave to him. He turned around and saw a nearby river as he sensed something was wrong. He saw Nolan hovering above the river and sensed Jeffrey was in the river unconscious. “JEFFREY!” he screamed. Dominic instantly got up and saw Na-ri from a distance. Na-ri ran up to Dominic but at the right time, Dominic let out a force burst knocking Na-ri down to the ground. Nolan let out a powerful lightning strike on the river but before the lightning could hit the river, Dominic quickly used powers to get Jeffrey out of the river just in time to save him. Dominic propped himself over to Jeffrey using his powers and grabbed his unconscious body tightly and said, “I got you!” As they were about to safely escape, Nolan redirected the lightning strike and attacked Dominic and Jeffrey. The lightning strike instantly knocked out Dominic and Dominic let go of Jeffrey’s body. The lightning strike was so powerful that it sent both of the unconscious heroes crashing into a glass building. As they crashed in the nearby building, both of their bodies slid across the hard surface of the floor. The crash left them both with scratches and bloody marks across their face.


	24. Chapter 24

Nolan flew back over to the street where the Alpha Clan first made their stop in the city. The rest of his members joined him one by one. First Zanthos. Then Na-ri. And lastly, Jacinto. The Alpha Clan looked around their surroundings finding joy of the destruction they have caused. And with them defeating the Vanguard, they felt unstoppable.   
“Freeze!!” a voice yelled out of a megaphone. All of the villains turned around to see where the voice was coming from only to find the Canadian Army ready to attack. Tanks. Trucks. Soldiers with guns in front of the military vehicles ready to fire when the time is right. They looked up as they heard helicopter noises to find army pilots in the helicopters ready to attack them. Then more soldiers started appearing on roofs of nearby buildings. The Alpha Clan looked all around at the army surrounding them. “This is your final warning,” a soldier yelled out over a megaphone. “Stand down or we’ll have no choice but to open fire!!!” “Do you think such petty threats will scare us off?” Nolan yelled out for everyone to hear. The soldiers cocked their guns getting ready to open fire on the Alpha Clan. Nolan turned and looked at Zanthos. Zanthos smiled back at Nolan. “Get ready for a rude awakening.” Zanthos said telepathically to the army. 

Nolan blinked and as he opened them, his eyes turned into his usual electric white color. All of a sudden, all the lights outside, including the helicopter’s lights, turned completely off leaving only nearby fires to give off weak lighting. The soldiers panicked as they didn’t know what to do or what to do expect. “Get ready to open fire lads!!” a soldier yelled out. The soldiers who were standing in front of the vehicles took a few steps forward. The soldiers in the helicopters were trying to find a way to turn their helicopter headlights on. “Do we have eyes on them?” one of the soldiers asked to the pilots in the helicopters. “We have no eyes on them sir,” one of the pilots responded. “We’re trying to get our lights back online but nothing is working.” “Get it working, we need eyes on them!” the soldier said. Suddenly, the lights outside came back on. The soldiers looked back at the villains only to find Zanthos there with the others missing. “Where’s the rest of them?” a soldier asked. Him and the rest of the soldiers started pointing their guns around looking for the rest of the Alpha Clan. “Do we have any eyes on them?!” a soldier yelled out. Zanthos looked at the soldiers and gave them a wink. 

As the soldiers cocked their guns at Zanthos. Suddenly, the ground started shaking violently. All the soldiers were losing their balance with some falling to the ground. Then, the earth below the military vehicles popped out of the ground leaving the vehicles flying in the air and crashing back down to the ground leaving severe damage to them. Then, a boulder out of nowhere came striking down the rest of the soldiers on foot spreading them out as they were struck. Nolan was in the air hovering in front of the helicopters with a surge of electricity flowing around his body. Nolan struck down the helicopters with surges of lightning leaving the helicopters useless and crashing to the ground with the pilots inside. As the soldiers on the multiple roofs began aiming their guns at Nolan, Na-ri swiftly swiped the soldiers of their guns leaving them weaponless. All of their guns were on the street and the soldiers went rushing after them. But before they could to them, Jacinto began to sink their guns inside the ground. The soldiers stopped running as they saw their guns sinking into the ground. They looked up a Jacinto and Jacinto asked, “You guys didn’t need that did you?” Nolan hovered down to the ground and looked around him. “As you guys can see, I have left you all powerless,” Nolan said as he was walking around. “If you were smart, you would turn away and never show your faces to us again. Let us be and we’ll spare you with your lives.” One of the soldiers started to walk up Nolan but stopped to keep his distance from him. “We’re not standing down until all four of you have been stopped.” the soldier said. “It’s your funeral.” Nolan said. Nolan instantly attacked the soldier with a small lightning bolt which sent him flying back crashing into some of the soldiers behind him. The rest of the soldiers pulled out their pistols from inside their suits and started shooting at the Alpha Clan. Jacinto immediately created individual boulders for himself and his teammates protecting them from the bullets. As the soldiers continue to shoot at them, Zanthos felt a disturbance in his mind. He looked behind him and saw more of the army coming for them. “Everybody, we got more incoming.” Zanthos said to them telepathically. They turned in Zanthos’ direction and saw the same thing Zanthos did. “Give it to ‘em.” Nolan said. Zanthos immediately launched a telepathic attack causing an illusion in one of the soldier’s mind thinking the one of the helicopters had the Alpha Clan inside there. The soldier immediately started screaming and attacked the helicopter with his automatic machine gun. The many gunshots to the helicopter took no effect. At least in the soldier’s mind. In reality, the chopper was sent crashing down into the river with the rest of the soldiers inside. The soldier’s mind then came back into reality and the soldier realized what he did and started screaming. Jacinto sent flying boulders to the rest of the helicopters and sent them crashing down as well to various places. Na-ri ran to each soldier on the ground and knocked them out one by one. Nolan sent out many lightning bolts disabling all the vehicles that the army had. “They’re gonna keep coming.” Na-ri said. “Then we keep fighting until they stop,” Nolan said. “No matter what it takes.”

Dominic and Jeffrey were still unconscious after Nolan attacked them. About a few minutes later, Dominic started coughing. After he coughs, he started groaning. He rolled over and laid on his stomach. He tried to get up but didn’t have enough strength. He tried again and slowly, he was up but on his knees. “Oh man.” he said as he took deep breaths. He closed his eyes but immediately opened them back up and yelled, “Jeff!” He looked for him and found him a few seconds later, still unconscious. He crawled over to him and grabbed his body. “Come on Jeff, wake up.” Dominic said. He failed after a few attempts until he used his telepathic powers to wake him up. As he did that, Jeffrey slowly opened his eyes and started coughing. “That’s it,” Dominic said. “You’re okay.” As Jeffrey stopped coughing, he looked back up at Dominic and instantly got on his knees. “Dominic,” he said. “How I get here?” “Well, we both got here cause of Living Electric.” Jeffrey got close to Dominic and examined his head. “Your head is bleeding.” Jeffrey said. “Trust me, I’m fine,” Dominic said. “I had much worse. You ain’t doing so good yourself with your mouth bleeding.” Jeffrey spit out blood and wiped off blood from his mouth. He looked up at Dominic but Jeffrey had a worrying look on his face. “Dominic, what are we going to do,” he asked. “They’re clearly overpowering us. It feels like we can’t do anything.” Dominic looked at Jeffrey and sighed. “I feel like it’s my fault.” Dominic said. “Woah Dom,” Jeffrey said. “This is not your fault. I know you’ve been trying to push us to our limits and I’ve said that you were just pushing us too hard, so I feel like this is my fault too in this.” “No, it’s not your fault,” Dominic said back to him. “This is all me. I should’ve prepared you guys for something like this or even greater. Not taking baby steps. I’ve been through shit much worse than this and I feel like I’m failing at being a leader.” Jeffrey got closer to Dominic and said, “You have not failed us. You’re doing the damn best you can and you led us through many victories. And just because we have a couple of losses doesn’t mean you’re a failure.” “It’s just a lesson learned.” they both said together. They smiled at each other. “You right,” Dominic said. “You know for so long, I always had doubts about myself of being a leader. I was always so used to playing a supporting role. But I got you guys to push me to make myself a better leader. Thanks.” Jeffrey nodded his head at him. Then Dominic’s eyes got big and he said, “Oh God, the others!” Dominic sent out a distress telepathic signal to Imani and Darrell. “I can only sense Imani but I can’t sense Darrell.” Dominic said. “What,” Jeffrey said. “Why can’t you?” “I don’t know.” Dominic responded. 

Outside, a street was filled with nothing but debris. Buildings were partially damaged. There were huge holes also left in the street. Suddenly, part of the street started shaking. The street started to make small cracks. Then the cracks got bigger. And bigger. Right until the street started making an opening. Then the shaking stopped. After the shaking stopped, part of the ground suddenly exploded into the air. With the debris falling to the ground, out came Darrell hovering who was trapped inside the ground because of Jacinto. He immediately dropped to ground and started coughing and gasping for air. After he stopped, he got up on his feet and felt something in his mind. “I’m okay Dom,” he said to Dominic telepathically. “Just got stuck someplace under.” “Oh thank God.” Dominic said as he put his hand on his heart. Darrell flew over to where Imani was at and he saw her getting up from the ground. He flew down to stand beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. “You alright?” he asked. “I think so,” she responded. “Just hate that Zanthos was able to get inside my head and have complete control over it.” She cracked her neck and asked, “Where are the others at?” Imani asked. “Jeff and I are inside a building that Nolan threw us in.” Dominic said to them telepathically. “Alright then,” Imani said. “You got a plan?” Jeffrey looked at Dominic and Dominic gave a satisfying nod back to Jeffrey. “Yeah,” Dominic said. “First, I think I know one reason why they have an advantage over us. Usually, we fight in far proximity. If we stay close to each other while battling the Alpha Clan, they won’t be able to have that advantage anymore.” “We have been fighting in far proximities for awhile,” Darrell said. “It’s time we switch it up.” “Also, we need to find ways individually on how we can overpower them like they did to us.” Dominic said. “And we probably need to be matched up with each one of them according to our abilities and strength.” Imani said. “Then I got Zanthos.” Darrell said. “Darrell, that guy is way too powerful,” Dominic said in a concerned way. “I gotta at least team up with you so we can take him down together.” “Dominic, it’s better for me to go up at him while you take down Nolan,” Darrell said. “Living Electric is just as powerful, if not, the most powerful one on the Alpha Clan. And you’re the most powerful one on this team so it makes sense for you to take him on.” “Darrell, are you sure you’re…” Dominic said. “I promise you, I’ll be okay.” Darrell said. “Alright fine,” Dominic said. “Imani, you take on Stone while Jeffrey you take on Velocity.” “Good,” Imani said. “Sounds like a good matchup to me.” “And Velocity might be fast, but I’m fast too.” Jeffrey said. “Darrell, since Zanthos has telepathic protection over the Alpha Clan, we’re gonna need to protect ourselves from him.” Dominic said. “Imani, you won’t need our help as long as you’re in diamond form,” Darrell said. “We already know you’re diamond skin protects yourself from other telepaths.” “And if something happens to my diamond form to where I’m turned back to normal, promise me you both will protect me from Zanthos.” Imani said. “You already know we got you.” “Alright y’all,” Dominic said. “The Alpha Clan doesn’t know we’re coming back. But we know we’re riding into heavy fire. And that’s what we signed up for. The Alpha Clan thinks we’re weak. That we’re not real heroes. This fight isn’t just about beating them. It’s to prove them wrong. To show them what we’re capable of. No more backing down. No more holding back. We show them who the Vanguard actually is. And that no matter how many times they knock us down, we’re gonna get back up fighting.” Dominic and Jeffrey looked at each other and so did Imani and Darrell. “Are we ready?” Dominic asked them telepathically. “Of course.” Imani said. “We’re right behind you.” Jeffrey said. “Always.” Darrell said.


	25. Chapter 25

The Alpha Clan finished off the second wave of the army and saw a third wave coming towards them. They all stood in a line horizontally from each other and watched as the army slowly got closer to them. The villains all looked at each other and Nolan said, “Let’s finish this once and for all. Do not hold back.”

As they started walking towards the army, the soldiers cocked their guns and aimed it at the Alpha Clan. When they got at a halfway point, a force wall immediately slammed right in front of them so they wouldn’t be able to reach the army. The Alpha Clan immediately stopped walking and were immediately confused at what just happened. Nolan put his hand on the force wall and as he did, he immediately got angry. “He just won’t back down will he?” he asked himself. Nolan turned around and looked up in the air to find the Vanguard standing on Dominic’s force disc with Imani in her diamond form. “You sons of bitches.” Nolan said. The rest of the Alpha Clan turned around and saw the Vanguard in the air as well. “Did you really think we weren’t gonna come back?” Dominic asked. “Well after the beatdown that we gave you guys, it seemed pretty certain.” Zanthos said as he took a couple steps forward. “You underestimated us.” Imani said. “Oh have we?” Jacinto asked. “You’ll see.” Darrell said. “And we’re not backing down either.” Jeffrey said. “Hmm,” Na-ri said. “I guess we won’t either huh?” Dominic hovered them down to the ground setting them about a quarter mile across from the Alpha Clan. “Alright y’all,” Dominic said. “Let’s kick some ass.”

The Vanguard slowly started walking towards the Alpha Clan. “They want a fight, we’ll give ‘em one,” Nolan said. “And they’ll remember this one in the afterlife once we’re done with them.” Now, the Alpha Clan started walking towards the Vanguard. Shortly after, the two teams started slowly gaining speed. Now they were at a jogging pace. “I can’t get inside their minds,” Zanthos said. “Those telepaths probably figured out what I was doing.” The Alpha Clan started gaining more speed than the Vanguard. The Vanguard then instantly matched their speed. Now they were within 200 meters of each other. The Vanguard were now running full speed towards the Alpha Clan and the Alpha Clan followed suit, with Na-ri running full speed without using her powers. Dominic’s hands slowly started glowing as he was about to activate his powers. As Nolan was getting ready to counter attack Dominic, Jeffrey used a surprise attack and a column of fire popped up underneath the Alpha Clan and sent them flying in the air. Dominic then created a disc shaped shield above them and slammed them down to the ground. Darrell used his telekinesis in the same manner that Jeffrey did by telekinetically throwing the villains in the air. “Now!” Dominic yelled. They all jumped in the air and slammed them down using a flying air kick.

And then it started. An all-out battle between the Vanguard and the Alpha Clan. Stealth vs. Living Electric. Diamond vs. Stone. SkyBlaze vs. Velocity. Kinetic vs. Zanthos. The battle between the two teams were getting crazy as lightning strikes were hitting different buildings. Small fires were starting in different areas. Holes in the street were starting to appear. Windows shattering. Cars being damaged. The Canadian army watched the two teams fight in awe. As Imani and Jacinto were battling each other, Jacinto stomped his feet into the ground and made a huge rock come out it and sent it flying to Imani. As the rock hurled to Imani, Imani got in a defensive position to block herself from the rock but the rock hit her and sent her flying back towards the Canadian army. The army saw her heading her way , the army got out of the way so they won’t get hit. As she was about to hit a tank, she stopped in the air. She looked around herself to see what made her stopped in midair and turned and looked at Darrell as he was the one who saved her from hitting the tank. “I got you!” Darrell yelled out. “Watch out!” Imani yelled back. Darrell quickly turned around and saw a boulder heading his way. He quickly dodged it and looked back Imani and asked, “Ready?” She nodded her head and Darrell telekinetically lunged Imani at Jacinto and Imani gave one satisfying punch to Jacinto and was knocked down to the ground immediately. Zanthos ran up to him and tried to punch Darrell but he dodged his punch. “You really think I wasn’t gonna catch that?” Darrell asked. “But you won’t expect this.” Zanthos said. Zanthos gave an unexpected telepathic attack to Darrell and he was knocked back. “I must say Darrell,” Zanthos said. “You have quite the power in you. More than I ever thought. But not as much as I.” “If that’s what you think.” Darrell said. He tried to use his telekinetic powers but something was wrong. “Zanthos, what the hell are you doing?” Darrell asked. “One thing you should know about me is that I’m always a step or two ahead of you,” Zanthos said. “Never forget that.” Darrell ran up to him but as he was running, he froze in place. “What the hell?” Darrell asked himself. Zanthos started laughing. “I’m pretty sure you never thought telepathy could do something like this,” Zanthos said. “Like freezing your body in place. There are so many things that you need to catch up on.” He then started attacking Darrell by repeatedly punching him in the face. Jeffrey threw constant fireballs at Na-ri but she was constantly dodging them with her super speed. “Damn it.” Jeffrey said. Jeffrey turned into his fiery form and flew in the air. Jeffrey looked in the air for Na-ri as she was running around to different points around the city. She was so fast that Jeffrey couldn’t keep up where she was at. Seconds later, Na-ri was on top of building behind Jeffrey carrying a fire blanket. She took a few step back and after that, she started running to the edge of the building. As she got to the edge, she jumped off and lunged towards Jeffrey’s direction. She opened up the fire blanket and when she got to Jeffrey, she wrapped the blanket around him ceasing his flame and they both started falling out of the sky. Nolan was attacking Dominic with countless lightning bolts but Dominic kept blocking them with his force fields. Dominic threw force bolts at Nolan and Nolan was dodging them. “Let’s get this over with.” Nolan said. Nolan hands started glowing and he sent out a continuous beam of electricity towards Dominic but Dominic answered back with a force field protecting himself. “Stand down Nolan!!” Dominic yelled. “In your dreams!” Nolan yelled. Nolan stopped attacking him and Dominic ceased his force field. Nolan looked around and saw the rest of his teammates fighting off Dominic’s teammates. He then let out a powerful electric burst from his body that sent Dominic crashing back to a nearby tank knocking him out. He look at the rest of the Vanguard fighting his teammates and he sent out lightning strikes to them and sent them hurtling in different directions. Nolan’s teammates looked at him and Nolan said to them, “Show them no mercy. Finish them by any means necessary.” “You got it.” Na-ri said as she ran off. “Blood will be shed.” Jacinto said. Zanthos gave him a nod and they all went their separate ways. 

Na-ri saw Jeffrey, in his normal form, from a distance slowly getting up from the ground. She quickly ran up to him and stood above him. Jeffrey looked up at her and immediately turned into his fiery form. She quickly stood back from him and she asked, “Shall we dance?” “Let’s see what you got.” Jeffrey said. She ran up to him and punched him in the face and he was knocked back a few steps. He immediately made a firewall in front of him so Na-ri wouldn’t get past. But with her super speed, she was able to put the flames out. After she did that, Jeffrey was gone. As she was looking for him, Jeffrey immediately attacked her by lighting up a column of fire underneath her which sent her up in the air. While in the air, Jeffrey flew close to her and let out a pyrokinetic burst and sent her hurtling to the ground. He then let out a incinerating blast to her but she dodged it. He started looking around for her. Even looked on top of buildings so he won’t get attacked like the way he did last time. “Alright, stop playing around and fight me.” Jeffrey said. “Down here!” Na-ri yelled. He looked down and saw Na-ri right below. He instantly flew down to her for an attack but she dodged it and he crashed down to the ground. He quickly got up and Na-ri ran up to him and gave him a powerful punch that sent him flying back into an abandoned warehouse nearby and turning back into his normal form. Na-ri arrived in the abandoned warehouse where she saw Jeffrey slowly getting up from the ground. He started coughing and he looked up and saw Na-ri standing in a corner. “Well, I see you’re pretty slow,” Na-ri said as she was checking her nails. “I thought you were the fastest one on your team.” Jeffrey threw a fireball at her but she quickly dodged it. “Aren’t you tired of this,” Na-ri asked. “You know you can’t catch me.” “Is that all you do is just aggravate people?” Jeffrey asked. Na-ri shrugged her shoulders and immediately ran up to him and side kicked him. “Why can’t you just fight me instead of running away?” Jeffrey asked angrily. “I thought you never asked.” Na-ri said. She instantly sent out a flurry of punches to Jeffrey knocking him back against a wall. “Just face it, you can’t beat me.” she said. “That’s what you probably think.” Jeffrey said. His eyes slowing turned into a bright fiery orange color and he looked smack dead at Na-ri. Steam started coming out of his body. As the steam was coming out of his body, flames started slowly forming on his body. Soon, he was fully flamed. As Na-ri was about to attack him, Jeffrey’s flame grew even larger and his flames turned into a bright white color blinding her eyes. The warehouse itself started getting hot very quickly. Na-ri quickly felt her body temperature rising and started sweating bullets as she tried to attack Jeffrey but couldn’t see him cause of his bright flame. Soon, it got so hot in the room that she was quickly gasping for air and fell to her knees. She started coughing and she immediately started to scream. “Stop, I can’t breathe!!” she screamed out. Jeffrey immediately ceased his flame but the temperature in the warehouse was still unbearable for Na-ri. Still coughing, she slowly rose up from the ground and looked at Jeffrey walking towards her. “Still think I can’t beat you?” Jeffrey asked. He gave one satisfying punch to her and knocked her down to the ground leaving her unconscious. “Should’ve known who you were dealing with.” he said while looking at her unconscious body.

Imani, in her diamond form, and Jacinto were battling it out in another part of downtown. Jacinto used his powers and made the ground shake around Imani causing a small earthquake. Imani was beginning to lose her balance but quickly caught herself. She then saw Jacinto turn a few rocks into sharp shards and flung them at Imani. The shards hit Imani but took no effect thanks to her diamond skin. Imani caught herself and regained her balance. She ran straight to Jacinto and jumped in the air and slammed down on Jacinto stopping the earthquake. She stepped back and said, “Alright Jacinto. Stand down. It’s over.” He spit out blood and asked, “You wanna know why I’m called Stone?” As he got up, Jacinto’s skin started to turn into a gray color. Soon after, his skin started to harden and small pebbles started growing out of his skin. His body then started gaining mass and a bit of height as the pebbles turned into fully fledged rocks. Jacinto wasn’t his normal himself anymore as he was now a fully-fledged rock being. “Now, we’re really gonna have some fun.” Jacinto said as he clapped his hands together. Jacinto started running towards Imani and Imani started running towards Jacinto. They both started yelling. As they reached each other, they both sent out a punch and both of their fists connected creating a shockwave which made all glass around them shatter from windows to light bulbs. “Now, I finally have a fight.” Imani said. Imani attacked Jacinto but Jacinto successfully blocked her attacks. He then clapped his hands together letting out a tremendous thunderclap towards Imani sending her crashing back into a building. Jacinto lunged into that building and continued to attack Imani. He held her down to the ground and repeatedly punched her. After that, he jumped in the air and did a ground slam on Imani and the entire building came crashing down collapsing on top of them. After the building collapsed, Jacinto emerged from the rubble. He shook off the debris as he was walking away but then he heard a sound. He turned around and looked back at the rubble and saw a diamond arm emerging from the rubble. Soon, Imani came out of the rubble and looked at Jacinto asked, “You really think it was gonna be that easy getting rid of me?” Jacinto angrily ran towards Imani and tried to attack her but Imani dodge his attack by sliding under him and did a counter attack by kicking him the back. Now, they were both attacking each other hand to hand causing major damage around them because of their tremendous strength. Jacinto then grabbed Imani and threw her against a car. She quickly got up and glanced at the car. She glanced at the car again and she sunk her fists into the car. She then rip the car in half, grabbed the two halves, and smashed them together. The two halves of the car were now used as gauntlets for her. Now the two were in an all-out brawl between each other. Imani repeatedly smashed her “gauntlets” on Jacinto but he was taking very little damage. “I’m wasting time!” Jacinto said. Jacinto gave her an uppercut and sent her up in the air. Jacinto caught her in a chokehold midair and immediately started choking her. “So long Diamond.” Jacinto said. Imani was trying to break free of his chokehold but nothing was working for her. She then looked at his finger and immediately took a bite of it biting off some of Jacinto’s rocky skin. “Ahh!” he yelled out. Imani was then released from his chokehold and started gasping for air. After she did that, she pummeled her fist into Jacinto’s chest knocking off some of his bulky rocky skin. She then stomped her foot on the ground causing Jacinto to tumble to the ground. “Time to give you a taste of your own medicine.” Imani said. She ripped up a large section of the ground and hurled it at Jacinto. It hit Jacinto and he was easily knocked back by it. Then Jacinto’s bulky rocky form started to weaken. He looked at his weakening rock form and he said, “No!” Jacinto started making large rocks out of the ground. He then heaved it at Imani but she punched right through them except for one. She caught the last one and Jacinto said, “Oh shit.” She ran towards Jacinto and she jumped in the air and slammed the rock down on Jacinto smashing it into pieces and knocking him down to the ground. Jacinto’s rocky form started breaking apart until it was only his gray stoned skin left. Imani grabbed Jacinto and gave him one powerful headbutt causing him to be knocked out and change back into his normal form. “Well that’s done.” she said. 

It was telepath vs telepath in this battle. Zanthos seems to have the upper hand in this battle as he slightly had an advantage over Darrell thank to his years of experience. They stopped using their telepathic powers and both started fighting hand to hand. Darrell tried to get a few punches in but Zanthos dodged them. Zanthos then did a flying kick across Darrell’s face that knocked him down to the ground. “10 years martial arts,” Zanthos said. “3rd degree black belt.” Darrell spit out blood and he used his telekinesis to hold him in place. He quickly got up from the ground and ran up to Zanthos, grabbed him, and knocked him down to the ground, face first. Zanthos groaned out loud from the pain. Darrell flipped his body over and repeatedly punched him in the face. “New York City Police Department,” he said while punching Zanthos. “7 years.” Zanthos then grabbed one of Darrell’s fists and headbutted him. He kicked Darrell off of him and got up off the ground. “Let’s take this to another plane shall we.” Zanthos said as Darrell got up. Suddenly, Zanthos released his astral form from his body and his body fell straight to ground. Darrell saw Zanthos’ astral form and he also released his own astral form from his body. Now both of their astral forms were on the Astral Plane. “Well, well, well,” Zanthos said. “Didn’t think you had it in you.” “You underestimate me.” Darrell said. Zanthos’ fingers turned into foot long blades and he threw them at Darrell but Darrell’s held up his arm and his arm turned into a shield to protect himself from the blades. Zanthos then flew over to him and started attacking him. Darrell was taking a beating in his astral form as he was trying to come up with a way to overpower or outsmart Zanthos. “You can’t get to me Darrell,” Zanthos said. “I’m always one step ahead of you.” He then bitch slapped Darrell and send him flying back. Darrell then stopped himself mid-air and looked at Zanthos. He then turned his arms into swords and flew towards Zanthos. Zanthos saw Darrell coming towards him and he turned his arms into swords too. Now the two of them were in a sword fight. The sounds of the two swords hitting each other were ringing in the telepaths’ ears. Zanthos swung his sword towards Darrell’s head and Darrell dodged it by an inch. Darrell then tried to stab his astral form but Zanthos quickly dodged that attack. The telepaths’ swords were now up against each other as they tried to push each other back. “I don’t know why you’re trying so hard to fight me,” Zanthos said. “Just give up.” “You know for a powerful telepath, you talk way too damn much.” Darrell said. Zanthos pushed Darrell back and made him lose his balance. He then used a powerful astral attack that sent him flying back to a wall. Zanthos flew up to him and asked him, “Any final words?” Before Darrell could say anything, Zanthos was preparing an attack but Darrell suddenly let out a powerful astral attack that was more powerful than Zanthos’. The attack sent Zanthos’ astral form back into his body. Darrell’s astral form flew back to his body. Both of the telepaths got up from the ground but Zanthos was slow to get up. Zanthos looked at Darrell and Darrell sent out a powerful psychic blast to Zanthos’ mind and Zanthos grabbed his head and screamed in agonizing pain. Darrell slowly walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar. “Finally, I can get you to shut your ass up.” Darrell said. He gave out one last telepathic attack and finally knocked out Zanthos. He threw his unconscious body down to ground and said, “Guess that makes me a better telepath than him. Can’t wait to tell Dominic about this.” He took one last look at Zanthos and walked away. 

Now, the leaders of each team were going at it. Nolan sent out several lightning strikes to Dominic but Dominic had his force field up protecting himself from it. Dominic made a shield and put it in front of himself and started flying forward using his shield as barrier. He hit Nolan with his shield and sent Nolan flying back onto a car. Dominic created a force disc above him and slammed it down on Nolan immediately knocking him out. “Well, that was easy.” Dominic said. He slowly walked up to Nolan to make sure he was out cold. Nolan suddenly opened his eyes and it was an electric white color. Nolan let out a surprise electric burst from his body that was so big that it caught Dominic off guard and sent him crashing into a nearby building. He got up from the ground and started coughing from the dust surrounding the air. He got out of the building and saw Nolan from a distance but Dominic noticed something different about him. “Oh shit.” he said. Nolan’s body was now a living white electric form with small electric waves coming out of his body. He flew over to Dominic and said, “No more holding back. I want you and the others dead.” Nolan starts absorbing all the electricity from around him and his body started glowing even brighter. He sent out a powerful blast to Dominic and as the blast was coming toward Dominic, he put up a force wall to block his blast. The force wall went away and so did Dominic. “So you wanna run now huh?” Nolan asked. Nolan starts hovering around the area looking for Dominic. “Either you come out and fight me like the hero your supposed to be or I can just look for your precious teammates and take them out.” Nolan said. Suddenly, a force burst popped out of nowhere and sent Nolan back a few feet. Then several force bubbles came flying straight to Nolan but Nolan was able to counterattack them by electrocuting them. Nolan then sent out a ball lightning straight in front of him and the ball of lightning hit Dominic revealing where he was. Dominic was slightly electrocuted and fell down to the ground. Dominic automatically turned back to his visible form. Nolan looked at the powerlines nearby Dominic and Nolan used the powerlines to attack Dominic by having electricity coming out of them like lightning bolts. Dominic held up a force field to protect himself but it looks like it wasn’t gonna last long due to him being electrocuted. The longer he held up the force field, the more his nose started to bleed. Nolan stopped using the powerlines to attack Dominic. “Protect yourself from this.” Nolan said. Nolan threw his hands in the air and the sky started making crackling sounds. The sky started flashing white and Nolan sent out a million volt lightning strike down on Dominic. Dominic held up a force field just in time to protect himself but it wasn’t enough. After the attack, Dominic was unconscious from the strain of holding up his force field from Nolan’s attack. Nolan looked at Dominic’s unconscious body and said, “Time for the finale.” Nolan flew down to Dominic and grabbed him by the neck. He turned his body back to his regular form. As he grabbed Dominic by the neck, he said, “What a life that you have Stealth. A shame that I have to end it.” His hand turned into an electric white color but Dominic immediately gained consciousness and grabbed Nolan’s head and started attacking him telepathically by using a psionic blast. Nolan let go of Dominic and grabbed his head and started screaming from the pain. Dominic’s eyes turned into a glowing transparent blue color and sent out a continuous wave of force energy to Nolan but Nolan tried to counterattack it but it didn’t work and immediately sent Nolan crashing onto a truck. As he got up, Dominic slowly started walking towards Nolan. “Now, you done messed with the wrong one Electric.” Dominic said. Nolan threw an electric bolt at Dominic but he deflected the bolt. Nolan immediately starting running up to Dominic but Dominic used his powers to pull him in and released a series of force bursts leaving major damage to the environment around him and to Nolan. Dominic started hovering in the air using his powers and as he threw his hands in the air, he started forming energy around his hands. Nolan looked up at Dominic and threw a lightning strike at Dominic but Dominic then counterattacked the lightning strike by throwing his hands out and released a powerful wave of cascading force energy that sent Nolan crashing through several buildings and eventually knocking him out. Dominic hovered back down to the ground and his eyes turned back to his normal dark brown color. “I hope that’s it.” Dominic said to himself. “Everybody alright?” Dominic asked everybody on his communicator. “I got Zanthos.” Darrell said. “Stone is out.” Imani said. “Velocity has been taken care of.” Jeffrey said. “And Living Electric is done,” Dominic said. “Well Vanguard… I think the Alpha Clan is done for.”


	26. Chapter 26

About an hour later, Jeffrey and Imani were helping local authorities and Damage Control clean up the downtown area and Dominic and Darrell were talking to local and national reporters clearing the Vanguard’s name. As the telepathic duo were beginning to wrap up the interview with the press, they saw a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter coming in and Dominic said to the press, “Thank y’all for y’all time.” They walked away from the reporters leaving the reporters screaming more questions at them. Jeffrey and Imani stopped what they were doing and Imani said to the clean-up crew, “I’m sorry but we need to do something right quick.” They both walked away and all of the Vanguard were walking up to the helicopter. They saw a few agents exiting the helicopter and one of the agents walked up to the heroes. “Vanguard,” the agent said. “Where are the criminals?” “They’re kinda spread out but they’re close to each other and unconscious,” Dominic said. “We have local authorities watching them.” “You might wanna be in a ready position just in case.” Darrell said. “Don’t worry Kinetic,” the agent said. “We have power dampening collars to cancel out their powers. Agents, move out!” The agents ran out to look for the Alpha Clan and they were somewhat successful. They were able to find Nolan, Jacinto, and Zanthos, who were still unconscious, but not Na-ri. “Guys,” and agent said over his communicator. “I can’t find the fast one. She’s nowhere to be found.” “Have you checked everywhere?” an agent asked. “I did and still no sign of her.” “Damn it, we gotta tell the Vanguard.” The agents walked backed to their helicopter carrying the unconscious bodies of the Alpha Clan but the Vanguard noticed one of them is missing. “Where’s Velocity?” Imani asked. “She probably escaped.” An agent responded as he put Zanthos’ body in the helicopter. “What?” Jeffrey asked. Dominic and Darrell used to their telepathic abilities to look for Na-ri but she was nowhere to be found. “Can’t find anywhere near here.” Darrell said. “I can’t find her either,” Dominic said. “I scanned all throughout downtown and outside of it and there’s no sign of her.” “How was she able to escape,” Jeffrey said. “I made sure she was knocked out and everything.” “With her fast abilities, she probably has a rapid regenerative healing factor allowing her to gain conscious faster than the others.” Imani said. “Look, we’ll just have to find her.” Jeffrey said. “No need to worry SkyBlaze,” an agent said. “We’ll be happy to take care of it.” “Sir, we’ll be happy to offer you guys some help,” Dominic said. “It’s the least that we can do.” “What are you gonna do with them three?” Darrell asked. “Sending them to the Raft,” an agent said. “Where all the other supervillains go. Trust me, they’ll be locked up for good over there.” All the agents got back inside the helicopter and one of the agents said, “We’ll let you know if we have an update on the last Alpha Clan member.”

As they flew away, the Vanguard looked out at the reporters and clean-up crew in satisfaction. “Mission accomplished.” Dominic said. “Yeah, that was a mission alright,” Darrell said. “But I bested Zanthos so I’m putting that down in my record book.” “Speaking of that, how did you best him?” Dominic asked looking at Darrell. “I really don’t know how it happened,” Darrell said. “It just happened you know. I had to think ahead of him somehow and it worked fortunately.” “And speaking of besting somebody out of their league, Jeffrey how did you get Velocity?” Imani asked. “She’s not out of my league, she’s just a tad bit faster than me.” Jeffrey said. “So, out of your league?” Darrell asked. Jeffrey rolled his eyes at Darrell and he said, “But the way I got her was that I made the area around us too hot for her handle and it was downhill for her from that point.” “Well just know that if, and I mean if, we come to a situation where we have to fight them again, we have to extra ready that next time.” Dominic said. “And we will be.” Imani said looking at him. Darrell and Jeffrey looked at Dominic with a soft smile on their faces. “And we couldn’t do it without our fearless leader.” Jeffrey said walking up to Dominic and putting his arm around his shoulder. Dominic smiled at Jeffrey and the rest of his teammates. “Well, I couldn’t have done it without y’all,” Dominic said. “We’ve definitely grown as a team over this time. There’s still places that we need to improve on but I think we’re good y’all.” “We are,” Imani said. “Matter fact, I think we’re more than good right now.” “Imani, I gotta give it up to you with these suits,” Darrell said. “They’re amazing. Especially with the individual styles to each one. I was getting a bit bored with the all black if I’m being honest.” “Thank you and I think we all were.” Imani said with a laugh. “And if I didn’t say, I’m proud of y’all,” Dominic said. “Y’all handled yourselves out there pretty well. You guys are growing everyday with your powers. Someday, you’ll probably be as powerful as I am. Or maybe even more powerful.” “We’ll see when that day comes.” Imani said. “I gotta say man,” Jeffrey said. “This mission here will probably be one of the hardest missions that we’ve ever done.” Dominic looked at Jeffrey and he started laughing at him. Dominic put his around his shoulder and said, “Jeff, if you think that mission was hard, boy you are in for a long one.” “Alright, enough of this sentimental stuff we need to help with clean up.” Darrell said as he walked away. The rest followed suit and continued to help the cleaning up downtown.


	27. Chapter 27

It was early in the morning as the Vanguard arrived back at their home. As the Vanguard walked out of their jet, they had a sluggish walk going on with them as they were exhausted not only from the battle from the Alpha Clan but the extensive cleanup they just got through doing. They arrived in the Core Room and CT said, “Vanguard, I’m happy to report that you all are back in good graces with Canada.” CT pulled up various news reports of the Vanguard battling the Alpha Clan and the reporters were saying positive things about the superhero team. “Well, that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about anymore.” Imani said. “CT?” Dominic asked. “Yes, Dominic?” CT asked. “I need a favor. I need you to track Velocity for me. With her speed, I know it’ll be difficult to track her down but if you have a location on her could you please let us know?” “Of course, Dominic.” CT said. “Thanks, CT.” Jeffrey said. “You’re welcome, Jeffrey.” CT responded. 

They all walked out of the Core Room and went inside their elevator. “Ground floor.” Darrell said. “Taking you to the ground floor.” CT said. As the elevator started moving, Dominic took his jacket off and asked his teammates, “Well, what do y’all wanna do now?” “Let’s just relax and chill for a bit,” Imani said. “That was enough what we had to deal with out there. We need a breather.” “Say less.” Dominic said. They arrived on the ground floor and Jeffrey said, “Nothing wrong with watching tv right?” “Time to binge watch some shows.” Darrell said. “I’ll get us some snacks.” Dominic said. As Dominic went to go grab snacks for his teammates, the rest of them went to the living room and they all sat on the couch and let out a sigh of relief at the same time. “You guys ever think about how different our lives would be if Dominic didn’t find us?” Jeffrey asked. “Sometimes,” Darrell said. “Why? Having a change of heart?” Jeffrey chuckled and said, “Never that. It’s just… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just grateful for where I am at now. And I have Dom to thank for that.” “I do too,” Imani said. “If it wasn’t for him, I probably would still be teaching. Which would be fine but this job here is a lot more fun and fulfilling.” “Hell, even me.” Darrell said. “Oh especially you.” Imani said. “Why you say it like that?” Darrell asked looking at Imani. “I mean come on Darrell,” Imani said. “You were so reluctant on doing this when we first came here.” “I know, I know, I know,” Darrell said. “Then he started talking with me and we got into that big argument and realizing that we’re pretty much the same. Blah, blah, blah. But yeah, we all have Dominic to thank for that.” Dominic was eavesdropping on their conversation but he was hiding behind a door with a smile on his face. He then walked inside the living room with snacks for everyone and asked, “What y’all folks talking ‘bout?” “Nothing much,” Imani said. “Just stuff.” Dominic put the snacks on the coffee table in front of them and he sat on the couch with his teammates. “What we watching?” Dominic asked. “I don’t know but we’ll find something.” Jeffrey said as he grabbed the remote. As he was browsing the television looking for something to watch, CT interrupted them by saying, “Everybody, I’m terribly sorry to bring this to you but there’s something that’s happening in Times Square.” CT automatically changed the tv to a channel to a live news report of what’s happening in Times Square. “It appears that the villain Yellowjacket has released a robot army in that area and is destroying it and possibly attacking citizens.” All of them closed their eyes, threw their heads back, took a deep breath and said, “Crap.” “A hero’s work is never done I see.” Imani said. “And we might as well get used to something like this cause it might happen often.” Darrell said. “As Dominic said, ‘Let’s go kick some ass.’” Jeffrey said. Dominic looked at Jeffrey with a smile and they all got up and Dominic said, “Shall we?” Dominic asked as he looked at his teammates. They all gave each other a satisfying nod and they all ran out of their front door and flew to Times Square to do their heroic duty.


	28. Chapter 28

Eight months later, Nolan, Zanthos, and Jacinto were still prisoners at the Raft. They were inside their cells wearing orange jumpsuits and had power dampening collars around their necks. The three of them were all near each other in their separate cells so that they had at least some type of contact with each other. Nolan was laying in his bed staring straight at the ceiling. Zanthos was reading a book inside his cell. And Jacinto was walking back and forth in his. Jacinto stopped walking back and forth and looked outside of his cell. He took a deep sigh and stared at the ground. Suddenly, an alarm started blaring off in the Raft. The lights inside the Raft went from normal lighting to flashing red. Zanthos and Nolan stopped what they were doing and walked up to the front of their cells. “What’s going on?” Nolan asked. “A breakout I presume.” Zanthos said. “We’ll find out in a few.” Jacinto said. Guards were storming in and they told all the prisoners to stand back. Suddenly, there was a sound of guns cocking. “Freeze right there lady!” a guard shouted. A second later, there were sounds of bodies falling to the ground. “Hey, did you guys hear that?” Jacinto asked. “I think we all did.” Zanthos said. The alarm stopped blaring throughout the Raft. Then, a sound of was made that sounded like unlocking doors was made. Nolan looked at his cell door confused thinking it was coming from his door. He walked up to the door, pushed it, and it opened. He walked out of his cell and so did Zanthos and Jacinto. They walk out to find Na-ri standing in front of them with a small device in her hand. “Gentlemen, I now consider you all free.” Na-ri said as she pressed a button on the device. After she pressed the button, their collars made three small quick beeps and their collars fell off of their necks. A sigh of relief came from the now freed prisoners as they all activated their powers. “Thank you.” all three of them said to Na-ri. She nodded at them and said, “Let’s get out of here and out of those jumpsuits.”


End file.
